As the home of the In2 project, the Hippodrome has hosted sessions with musicians, circus performers, actors, theatre producers and even inventors over the last year.  In2 is a three-year project, using physical and creative activities to support children with the transition from primary to secondary school.  The programme helps to build confidence, fosters aspiration and improves general health and wellbeing by opening up access to cultural and sporting activities they wouldn’t normally experience, allowing them to explore their own creativity and aptitudes outside of the normal curriculum. 103 pupils from Corporation Road, Northwood, Harrowgate Hill and Firthmoor primary schools are participating in this exciting new programme, which is supported by Darlington Borough Council.

As well as visiting the theatre to enjoy performances, the group has attended workshops where they have: learnt about the history of pantomime, before casting their very own show and designing a poster to promote it; invented a power saving device that used renewable energy as part of the Little Inventors energy challenge; learnt about movement and performance with Oddmanout Theatre and most recently joined a street band and learnt how to play instruments.

The music project, funded by Durham University, saw street band Back Chat Brass work with the schools for eight weeks, building towards a performance for peers, parents and teachers.  Each week the Hippodrome rang out with the sound of ‘Shotgun’ and ‘Lean on Me’ as the children mastered the colourful plastic brass instruments, which the programme has now gifted to the schools, much to the disappointment of the staff who thought they might get to show off their musical prowess! You can see just how much the children enjoyed the experience in this film…