Theatre in Education

The Government says every child has the right to be able to reach their potential, supported from their earliest years in learning and developing life skills, so they can grow up happy, healthy and achieving their goals. This is good for children and families. It is also good for society – both economically and socially. Every Child Matters is the core belief for Surestart and the starting point for AsOne Theatre’s project, Hey Baby-Baby! There is an urgent need to aid the process leading to the end of childhood deprivation by educating parents. This practical, creative approach may just be a solution. The original workshops wih AsOne facillitating enabled six teenage mothers to share their experiences in a private environment, without judgement, with their children safely playing in a creche. It was time for themselves. The young women were nakedly honest, and the workshops culminated in their decision to commit themselves to educating young people through their own journeys about the real hardship of teenage pregnancy and parenthood.

took place at Outlooks Children's Centre, Portland from mid April through to mid-July 08 within Dorset Surestart. Weymouth and Portland have one of the the highest incidence of teenage conception in the UK (and the UK has the highest in Western Europe). Their stories are helping us to step through the looking glass – to understand the world of these ‘teen-parents.

Teenage 'Hey Baby-Baby!' Video Documentary

Karen Hayward, Sean Brady and Carly Norbury, three Weymouth College Foundation Degree Video Production students have created a documentary from the story-telling workshops through to the resulting TIE production. A big thank you to Weymouth College and Head of Film Studies, Tim Abberley for facillitating and mentoring this part of the project.