Transforming lives through the unique power of Shakespeare
Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation is a national cultural education charity, which enables over 10,000 young people every year to gain the confidence and skills they need to succeed in life.
We empower young people from all backgrounds through transformational creative experiences on stage and on screen. We unlock opportunity and boost wellbeing, engagement and ambition.
Confidence unlocked: finding your voice through performance and production Opportunity unlocked: championing inclusive access to stage and screen, regardless of background Future unlocked: working to embed arts education in every child’s journey
Sir Philip Pullman, author and CSSF Patron “ ”
Every child in every school ought to have the chance to experience this magical process.
“To unpath’d waters, undream’d shores”
This year, we mark 25 years since the first Shakespeare Schools Festival took to the stage at Torch Theatre in Milford Haven. Over a quarter-century, the festival has developed into a nationwide movement – the nation’s largest youth drama project – transforming young lives by providing the opportunity to perform Shakespeare’s plays in professional theatres.
Teacher-Directors continue to rise to the challenge of staging a 30-minute abridged production. They support, inspire, and bring the magic alive through a rigorous and inclusive rehearsal process. They reshape narratives and forge new connections with their students and with these famous stories. Whether playing Lady Macbeth or Malvolio, Brutus, Bottom or Hamlet, young people are encouraged to reimagine a character, connect with human emotions, and relate to the issues of today, a creative and enriching learning experience that enhances not only oracy and attainment but also teamwork, problem solving, empathy, resilience and belonging.
Across 2025, from midsummer to twelfth night, we will celebrate the achievements of dozens of regional theatres, hundreds of staff and volunteers, thousands of Teacher-Directors, and hundreds of thousands of young people. We will share 25 Years, 25 Stories to catalogue the transformative impact of participating in Shakespeare Schools Festival.
We also launch our strategy All the World’s Our Stage. Together we will call for more opportunities to tackle educational and social disadvantage, increase aspiration and unlock the confidence, skills and creativity of our next generation.
Our first step is to ensure that, across the next 25 months, 25,000 children and young people can discover the power of Shakespeare to unlock their futures. Together, we will show them that all the world’s their stage.
Mike Tucker Head of Coram Shakespeare
Schools Foundation
A History of Shakespeare Schools Festival
25 years • 350,000+ young people • 10,000+ teachers • 150+ theatres • One festival
Shakespeare Schools Festival began at the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven, with eight local schools performing abridged productions based on the Animated Tales of Shakespeare (BBC/S4C).
2000
The festival expanded to London with 60 schools at three theatres and our first West End Gala. Early supporters, Cherie Blair and Tessa Jowell, offered a UK-wide launch of the festival with a presentation in No. 10 Downing Street.
2001
Shakespeare Schools Festival enters the Guiness Book of World Records for the most productions of Shakespeare simultaneously – a record that still stands.
2005
2013
The festival successfully integrates primary school companies for the first time and reaches 25,000 young people aged 8-18
2016 2014 2018
SSF reaches more than 35,000 young people and celebrates with a West End gala at the Lyric Theatre supported by patrons Jenny Agutter, Sir Nicholas Hytner, Dame Harriet Walter and Sir Simon Russell Beale.
SSF hosts the third Trial of... event, putting Hamlet in the dock for the murder of Polonius and SSF performers join the RSC at No. 10 Downing Street as part of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives campaign.
SSF wins the major international art prize Premium Imperiale Award for Young Artists, awarded annually by the Japan Art Association.
This has made me more confident. It was the best thing in The World. I want to do it again and again.
”
Denisas, 11, Northamptonshire
For the first time, the Festival is held across the entire UK, with 22,000 pupils from 1056 schools performing in 110 theatres.
2007
Across 24 hours, at 7pm local time, on Shakespeare’s birthday, performances were staged in a variety of languages from New Zealand to Hawaii as part of Shakespeare 24
In celebration of our 10th anniversary, His Majesty The King, then HRH The Prince of Wales, attended a performance night at the Hackney Empire.
Off by Heart Shakespeare - a national recitation contest for secondary school students run by SSF, the RSC and the BBC airs as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare Season.
2008 2012
Shakespeare Schools Foundation joins the Coram Group of charities and produces One Night of Shakespeare on UN World Children’s Day, a virtual Theatre Festival of 200 companies performing a Shakespeare play at school during the Covid-19 lockdown.
CSSF launches the What You Will competition to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, announcing the winners on a gala night at the Criterion Theatre.
CSSF launches its 2030 Strategy All the World’s Our Stage at a Parliamentary reception hosted by Manuela Perteghella MP.
All the world’s our stage strategy 2030
We are proud to unveil our new strategy, setting out the next chapter for the charity and responding to the changing world young people face. It reaffirms our unwavering commitment: every young person, whatever their background, deserves access to creative opportunities.
Read more about our strategy
cOnFiDeNcE
uNlOcKeD
Participatory programmes
for all young people
Access to expressive arts in schools is shrinking. 41% of mainstream state schools no longer offer GCSE drama.1
Every year, our renowned Theatre Festival and expanding International Film Festival will give young people access to high quality participatory arts experiences at school. By 2030, 50,000 children will have participated in these programmes and unlocked the confidence and essential skills they need for life. Through strengthened relationships with regional partner theatres and artists, we aim to bridge the ‘enrichment gap’ by ensuring cultural experiences are not a privilege, but a right for every child.
Supporting young people facing disadvantage
Following successful pilots with Leicester City Virtual School, Coram Ambitious for Adoption, and the Criterion Theatre, we will grow our programmes tailored for young people who face structural disadvantage — including careexperienced children, pupils in Virtual Schools, learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and those from underserved communities.
Through specialist partnerships and the rich experience and skills of the Coram Group, we will take our work to new spaces and settings, increasing access to the performing arts for vulnerable children and young people.
“One young person showed progress in reaching her potential. School reports note improved behaviour and attendance, while her carer reports improved confidence and willingness to try new things. For her, the experience has been life-changing.”
Liz, Teacher at Leicester City Virtual School
fUtUrE uNlOcKeD
Fostering creativity through teacher development
A narrow curriculum and emphasis on EBacc subjects has resulted in scaled back provision for drama and expressive arts subjects at school. The total number of drama teachers has dropped by more than a fifth in just over a decade2 and creative approaches to learning are employed less frequently in the classroom.3
Through dedicated professional development opportunities – including events, networking, partnership and consultancy – we will support educators to embed creativity in their classrooms and boost the validity and visibility of creativity at school.
We will launch our learning series, Playful Spaces: the classroom as rehearsal room, with contributions from Prof. Bill Lucas, Matthew Xia, Tinuke Craig and Mischief Theatre.
2 Department for Education, “School workforce in England: Secondary subjects taught 2011 to 2022” (2023).
3 House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, “Requires improvement: urgent change for 11–16 education” Report of Session 2023-24, HL Paper 17
Building Skills for Life
The need for social capital and skills building opportunities at school has never been greater. Rising absenteeism and ‘opt-out’ culture4, growing regional inequalities, and a decrease in levels of pupil wellbeing5 indicate that too many young people are being left behind. Our strategy will guide the evolution of our work to meet new challenges and enrich learners’ experience at school — linking creativity to curriculum outcomes, supporting learner engagement and attendance, and championing key skills like communication, and collaboration.
Last year we worked with 10,224 pupils from 561 primary, secondary and SEND schools.
Our most recent evaluation shows that, as a result of the Festival:
100% 93%
99% 98%
of teachers agreed that students’ oracy6 has improved of teachers agreed that students’ attendance has improved of teachers agreed that they have a stronger relationship with their students of teachers agreed that students have developed a sense of belonging at school
“One of our students does not communicate verbally, instead using a board to write down their ideas. She was allocated a role as one of the watchmen in Much Ado About Nothing. She spoke her two lines loudly on stage, which was an amazing achievement.”
Emily, Teacher-Director at Barbara Priestman Academy in Sunderland
“Arts subjects and experiences have an evidenced role in contributing to improving outcomes for children and young people, providing them with skills for life and skills for work.”
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and A New Direction, “The Arts in Schools: Foundation for the Future - Purposes, principles and practice” (2023)
4 Department for Education, “State of the nation 2022: children and young people’s wellbeing” (2023).
5 Child of the North & Centre for Young Lives, “A country that works for all children and young people” (2024).
6 The ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through speaking, listening and communication.
A forthcoming literature review commissioned by the Hadley Trust indicates the positive benefits of participatory creative interventions for young people facing disadvantage, but the need for further investment and research to understand the long-term impacts.
“Children and young people [are] observed to have grown in confidence, self-esteem, social skills and communications skills and to have forged strong relationships with peers and programme facilitators. Other benefits relate to self-awareness, self-identify, wellbeing, resilience and empathy... Creative interventions provided young people space and freedom to express themselves and explore their identities.”
Coram Impact & Evaluation, ‘The efficacy of creative interventions with children and young people experiencing disadvantage: an evidence review’ (June 2025)
“The arts in education are so important for so many reasons, but they often go uncredited. They give young people an opportunity to learn how to cooperate and work together with others to produce a final outcome – a key skill in almost any future career – whilst still having fun and enjoying learning. They can also play a huge role in increasing young people’s confidence, allowing them to grow as people and reach their full potential, with less anxiety holding them back from their dreams and aspirations.”
Rose, 15, Hampshire, Youth Board Member
25 Years, 25 Stories
“We did Antony and Cleopatra and I played Cleopatra. I was flattered to be chosen. I definitely wasn’t the person that would have naturally auditioned for the role. I was new at the school and I wasn’t super confident compared to a lot of the people that had been there since year 7.
“It was a really inclusive process. They gave one of the students the chance to direct the production and included the whole school. There were people of all ages and abilities, and it was the first time that I’d interacted with the year 7 pupils. We nurtured the younger ones, it was great.
“[The performance day] was nerve-wracking. I remember thinking: ‘Oh my God, this is a proper theatre,’ and then as soon as we started doing it, I loved it. It was the first time I’d ever performed in a theatre.
“ ”
I remember thinking: ‘oh my god, this is a proper theatre,’ and then as soon as we started doing it, I loved it.
“It was the first time I’d properly felt like a grown-up within a school environment. It felt meaningful and was a real bonding experience that brought everyone out of the politics of their year group.
“It helped me feel part of the school. For someone who was new and an outsider, I felt a lot more included. It has had a legacy effect of being something that I was always proud of. It was a contributor for me being able to speak in public.
“It never felt like Shakespeare in a traditional sense. It never made me feel like Shakespeare was an exclusive or elitist thing... It felt like a haven of safety and creativity. It stays with you, in those teenage years that stay longer than anything else. If you have a positive experience, then that will have a massive impact on you and your confidence for the rest of your life.”
Evie Buckley is Digital Commissioning Editor & Channel 4.0 Lead, Channel 4 & CSSF Alumna
Creativity
YEARS
Unlocked
Scan the QR code to read more stories like Evie’s as part of our 25 Years, 25 Stories campaign.
We are Coram
Coram is the first and longest serving children’s charity in the UK. Our work enables us to better understand what works for children and young people, and communicate with those in a position to make a real difference. We use our insight and experience to engage with government, local authorities, social workers, teachers, carers and families to help deliver better practice, systems and laws.
Established as the Foundling Hospital in 1739, today we are a vibrant group of specialist charities and organisations, supporting hundreds of thousands of children, young people and families every year.
Policy Makers
See the impact for yourself. Support children in your area by attending the festival, and join us in championing access to the arts for all young people.
Find a performance evening and support your local schools in the community by scanning the QR code or contact head@coramshakespeareschools.org.uk
Supporters
By becoming a donor and supporting our work, your gift will give another child the opportunity to shine on a professional theatre stage.
Scan the QR code to donate now or go to shakespeareschools.org/pages/donate
Educators
Become a Shakespeare school and register for one of our transformative programmes. We are always open to partnership conversations with Multi Academy Trusts and Local Authorities.
Please contact head@coramshakespeareschools.org or scan the QR code to find out more.
