Bright Young Things News
Read all the latest goings on behind the scenes at BYT.
Bright Young Things is always up to something, so keep informed with all our latest news and goings on.
Lets talk about bullying
In the fraught dynamic of children and bullying, there are a number of roles being adopted in the playground, community or online setting. Directly, there are two parties involved: The oppressor and the oppressed.' Indirectly, however, there are many others involved....
read moreTHE POWER OF DRAMA
There are many recognised studies about the power of drama for young people. The benefits are extensive and develop a child's physical, emotional, social and cognitive skills, evidence of which can be found here. Drama is a strange word. It can mean so many different...
read moreBRIGHT YOUNG THINGS ANNOUNCES THREE NEW SCHOOLS
THE FUTURE'S BRIGHT AS BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS DRAMA ANNOUNCE THREE NEW SCHOOLS! After a hugely successful summer of drama, Bright Young Things is thrilled to announce it is opening three new drama schools this September, in Ballymena, Comber and Portstewart....
read moreLisa’s End of Year 1617 Blog
Relaxing is definitely not something I am good at! When in BYT mode, I cannot help but give 100% energy and drive in every moment - the children make me! No matter how tired or worried I’ve been, when I walk into a BYT workshop or a BYT...
read moreMagherafelt Big'uns - Teamwork skill development in action - oh and some great moves on display too!.
Teamwork is critical whatever our stage of life, and something that can only be developed in an active, most often fun, relaxed setting.
We work hard on developing teamwork skills at BYT from an early age, but at Big'uns stage, we approach it in much the same way that many huge companies do with their employees and teams - we are just getting these core skills developed much earlier which we think is so important.
Here are great 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking that our children can play and enjoy in a group anytime.
www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/10-team-building-games-that-promote-critical-thinking/
Today is a day of Birthdays 🎂🎈🎁
A big BYT Happy Birthday to our founder and Creative Director Lisa Duffy who works so hard every day for every single child and team member involved in BYT, we hope you have lots of cake and presents and a lovely birthday, you deserve it 🎂
Quite fittingly, Lisa shares a birthday with her literary hero the bard himself William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's works have been used at Bright Young Things consistently across the last 8 years, with our children from 3 to 18 working with his words and lessons in a very creative and accessible way.
Read in the article below why we and many others who work in education and the arts believe that Shakespeare should be introduced from an early age.
And did you know that Shakespeare's words and phrases live on today, here are just a few...
“Be-all and the end-all” — (Macbeth)
“Faint hearted” — (Henry VI Part I)
“Fancy-free” — (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
“Forever and a day” — (As You Like It)
“For goodness’ sake” — (Henry VIII)
“Heart of gold” — (Henry V)
“Kill with kindness” — (The Taming of the Shrew)
“Knock knock! Who’s there?” — (Macbeth)
“Love is blind” — (The Merchant of Venice)
“Wear my heart upon my sleeve” — (Othello)
“Wild-goose chase” — (Romeo and Juliet)
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/william-shakespeare/10625363/Why-Shakespeare-should-be-childs...
Why Shakespeare should be child's play
telegraph.co.uk
Children as young as five can be 'captivated' by Shakespeare - schools must reach them before it's too late, says RSC artistic director Gregory Doran
We had such a busy, fun, second week at Bright Young Things last week.
Some of the highlights that you might have missed captured in our lovely gallery of photos:
* Presenting a huge cheque for over £9,000 to Cancer Fund for Children - mega proud of everyone!
* BYT Magherafelt settled into their new home at Wesleyan Hall and played lots of messy fun discovery games to really explore their new home properly - so much fun!
* BYT Ballymena Middl'uns began to explore puppetry as part of their class - ,more of that to come in our puppetry masterclass in a few weeks
* All Littl'uns classes cemented the core BYT fundamentals of the handshake, making eye contact and introducing themselves
* All Middl'uns classes worked on improvisation and one BYT each week is creating a story from the contents of their BYT Creativity Sack
* All Big'uns classes have introduced a BYT 15min takeover where one byt each week leads the programme with their pre-prepared activity.
It's now week 3 of spring term, and with new group dynamics now established we cannot wait to take the groups into even more exciting, fun, challenging activities and drama exercises.
Happy Monday everyone x
We had such a busy, fun, second week at Bright Young Things last week. Some of the highlights that you might have missed captured in our lovely gallery of photos: * Presenting a huge cheque for over £9,000 to Cancer Fund for Children - mega proud of everyone! * BYT Magherafelt settled into their new home at Wesleyan Hall and played lots of messy fun discovery games to really explore their new home properly - so much fun! * BYT Ballymena Middl'uns began to explore puppetry as part of their class - ,more of that to come in our puppetry masterclass in a few weeks * All Littl'uns classes cemented the core BYT fundamentals of the handshake, making eye contact and introducing themselves * All Middl'uns classes worked on improvisation and one BYT each week is creating a story from the contents of their BYT Creativity Sack * All Big'uns classes have introduced a BYT 15min takeover where one byt each week leads the programme with their pre-prepared activity. It's now week 3 of spring term, and with new group dynamics now established we cannot wait to take the groups into even more exciting, fun, challenging activities and drama exercises. Happy Monday everyone x
BYT Littl'uns classes are for 3-5 year olds.
For many BYT's their first BYT class may be their very first time in a group with children they don't know.
Our core goals from a BYT class and term, regardless of the class age group, are the development of age-appropriate core social/soft skills and confidence -we achieve that in a fun, interactive and active way, through a uniquely developed programme and annual curriculum.
The BYT Handshake, holding eye contact and introducing yourself, is a key part of the start of every BYT Littl'uns class, the BYT Welcome Circle. Handshakes, holding eye contact and giving your name clearly and confidently are fundamental skills that will stay with them through their life, helping them to make friends, integrate into new groups and as we all know is still a vital skill in a job interview way down the line, a skill that sadly many twenty-somethings today have never learned. Learning these lifelong skills from the formative years is absolutely key to ensuring they become an innate unconscious skill that our children have throughout their life.
#softskills
#lifeskills
#developingthewholechild
#confidence
#communication
#creativity
#thebyteffect
#thebythandshake
Between January and March this year Bright Young Things embarked on a fundraising journey, By Children, For Children - in aid of the wonderful local charity Cancer Fund for Children.
We had three key fundraising initiatives:
1. Recording our BYT Charity Single - Step by Step by the bright young things
2. The BYT Festival of Creativity - A day of performances and fun at Rockport School
3.Lots and lots of wonderfully creative individual fundraising events by lots and lots of our bright young things.
We are now delighted to be able to announce our fundraising total for Cancer Fund for Children......
DRUMROLL PLEASE.....
Together everyone at Bright Young Things has raised an incredible £9,169.23 for Cancer Fund for Children (not including any gift aid that we know will also be claimed).
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to every single person who donated, who prepared children for their shows and supported their and our fundraising efforts, it truly was a big team effort. Your generosity of spirit, time and money has made us all feel so proud of the BYT family that we just love to have around us. Through this journey, we have all learned a lot about the hardships being faced daily by children throughout Northern Ireland and together we have helped our bright young things to understand the strength and impact of their generosity and kindness to make a difference to the lives of others.
Here we are at our Holywood Class having lots of fun presenting the cheque to Sarah from Cancer Fund for Children.
Our fundraising for Cancer Fund for Children will continue in the future as a local charity they rely on local fundraising by all of us to keep their vital services going for all of us who unfortunately may need them in the future.
With so much thanks and love,
Lisa, Aisling & the BYT Team xx
(Huge thank you also to Joanne Mackay Photography one of our byt mums, who kindly came in to take these photos for us xx)
Week 1 of Spring Term 🐥: The Second Scene
Towards the end of last week we were so excited to get Spring Term underway in both of our Belfast classes, and Ballymena and Portstewart. Lots of wonderful new bright young things have joined across Littl’uns, Middl’uns and Big’uns.
Week 1 is a fun week, where we focus on getting to know each other, establishing the group dynamic, letting the byts establish their own group rules, and building trust and a space that they feel safe to speak up and be themselves 😁🗣🤝
We have a very rich term ahead, where our bright young things get tasters of some specialist techniques and skills, as we get into the fun and discovery of masterclasses term 🎭🎬🎤🎼🎞.
For more information about how we use the power of drama to develop children’s confidence, communication, creativity and social skills, visit our website www.bytdrama.com
Is this the perfect role for you, or do you know someone who would fit perfectly with Bright Young Things. Get in touch via email or PM!
Thanks,
Team BYT x
Are you a self-starter who is highly creative? Are you highly organised and a problem solver? Do you want to join a children’s organisation at an exciting time in their development and forge a career in marketing and business development? If this is you, then Bright Young Things Drama would love to hear from you!
Check out our very talented Bright young thing, Roisin Gallagher, in this sneak peak of Abigail's Party.
This is definitely a night out for all our BYT mums and dads to enjoy!!
So get booking and let's give Roisin all our BYT support.
Top up Sue!
themaclive.com/event/abigails-party-new?utm_campaign=9368438_Community%20Emailer%20-%20April%2020...
Abigail's Party | Theatre at the MAC Belfast
themaclive.com
We cordially invite you to the party of the year. (The year is 1977).
Week 1 of Spring Term 🐥: The Story so far
Week 1 of any new term at Bright Young Things, for new starts or returners, is all about building trust and a safe space, and establishing that group dynamic. We have weclomed lots of eager new bright young things in all of our classes and welcomed back so many more.
Armagh, Holywood, Comber and Magherafelt terms are now underway 🎭🎬🎤🎼🎞
More sneak peeks of week 1 of Spring Term to follow later in the week from Ballymena, Belfast and Portstewart 😁