Northampton School for Girls awarded more than £50,000 to develop theatre facilities

A Northampton school has been awarded more than £50,000 from a grant making charity to develop its theatre facilities.

Northampton School for Girls (NSG) in Spinney Hill Road has secured the funding from the Wolfson Foundation - an independent charity that aims to “support civil society by investing in excellent projects in science, health, heritage, humanities and the arts”.

The school says the money will be used to ensure “leading-edge provision for performing arts” can continue to be delivered to students at the school and across the community.

Headteacher Cristina Taboada-Naya said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured this funding and immensely grateful to the Wolfson Foundation for their phenomenal support. We are proud of our reputation for excellence in performing arts provision and this funding will contribute to ensuring we sustain the exceptional high quality of our theatre facilities.

“Our theatre is the heart and soul of our school community.

“Spinney Theatre impacts across a wide range of subjects, including drama, dance, music, art and English.

“It remains open for students to use far beyond the operating hours of our school day, meaning that they can optimise opportunities for learning in a professional theatre environment.”

The school says it has, for many years, committed to ensuring that every student, at least once in their time at NSG appears in a production at Spinney Theatre, or on its stage.

Ms Taboada-Naya added: “We have found that students who participate in drama performance experience improved reading comprehension, maintain better attendance records, and stay even more engaged in school.

“Our intention is that our Spinney Theatre is a catalyst for educational and social change; we allow and encourage our students to discover that they are so much more talented and capable than they ever thought possible.

“The pandemic has underlined the importance of Spinney Theatre to our school and highlighted its significance more widely to the local community and region, as well as the reputable organisations that we work with.”

Since the Wolfson Foundation was established in 1955, some £1 billion has been awarded to more than 12,000 projects throughout the UK, all on the basis of expert review.