Having a voice, the ability to share your opinion on something, is the most powerful thing in the world.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you didn’t feel like you had a voice then I’m sure you’ll agree. When I was a young girl in primary school, I never spoke out. Of course, I had my own opinion on things, but I never felt confident within the school environment to put up my hand to communicate those thoughts because I was extremely unconfident. Basically, I was nervous that I’d be laughed at.

Luckily for me, I discovered drama and now I probably have too much of a voice!! But, in all seriousness, so much of what Perform does comes from my own experience as a child and my desire to help children see that their thoughts and opinions are worthy of being heard and considered. Throughout the year, we play games and exercises which aim to give them the confidence to share their thoughts without feeling anxious or  uncomfortable.

Next week's focus for 4-7s is “When I’m King of the Jungle” while 7-12s are doing “When I’m Prime Minister”. The children's task is to each come up with one thing that they’d do if they were given total power for the day.  Once they've decided what they would do, they're encouraged to articulate it confidently to the class and explain why. It’s a simple exercise but the point is that everyone joins in and everyone’s idea is important. What’s more, they have to use a big loud voice to communicate it because there’s no point having a great idea if no one can hear it.

I can’t wait to hear what the children come up with next week but I know they’ll all have valid, interesting and often very funny ideas to share. Hopefully, it will be another way to show our children that their thoughts and opinions are worth listening to however young they are.