News Story

Thanks to generous funding from NFU Mutual, alongwith BCP Council, Arts Council England and The Casey Trust, our young people producer Amy Reynolds has leapt into action to get the LEAP Dance Toolkit project underway, working with dance artists Jazz Gritt, Claire Benson and Emily Thompson-Smith.

The LEAP project is about introducing more movement and dance into the primary school curriculum and aimed at driving positive change for society by providing targeted healthcare support through preventative measures in schools. It aims to bring the mental and physical health benefits of dancing to 30,000 children in all 86 BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole) primary schools over the next three years.

With brand new handbooks ready to go, the LEAP team of Amy, Claire, Jazz and Emily hosted a full day of teacher training at Pokesdown Primary school as part of the pilot project. The sessions enabled teachers to feel more confident about integrating and delivering movement and dance into their curriculum.

19 class teachers took part from the school and all had great fun, leaving the day feeling more confident to plan and deliver dance. Many participants also commented on the inspiration it had given them to integrate more creative movement in the classroom in support of other subjects such as English and History. Encouraging feedback all round, and great to see Amy and the LEAP team bringing this to life. We are really looking forward to delivery of the next training day in Feb 2025, where staff from 4 more of our brilliant local Primary schools will take part.

An incredibly well prepared and thought out session with great resources and ideas. Looking forward to putting these ideas into practice!

Changed my mindset to teach dance - feels less scary! The whole workshop was delivered fantastically.

NFU Mutual Agents and their staff at the Bournemouth office nominated Pavilion Dance to receive a donation of more than £6,500 from NFU Mutual’s national £1.92million ‘Agency Giving Fund’.

The leading rural insurer launched this fund, now in its fifth year, to help local frontline charities across the country. The Agency Giving Fund forms part of NFU Mutual’s £3.25m funding pledge for both local and national charities in 2024, to assist with the ongoing recovery from the pandemic and to help tackle the impact of the rising cost of living.

A huge thanks to NFU Mutual, BCP Council, Arts Council of England and Casey Trust for helping us bring this project to life. We can't wait to get more schools involved and make a difference.