Leeds City College students performance to help educate young people about online issues

The School of Creative Arts is being supported by The Paper Birds Theatre Company to commission 32 Level 3 acting students in creating a performance piece addressing online safety.

The community project is in its third year, following last year’s successful knife crime performance that focused on building awareness and highlighting the dangers of knife crime. This project also ran in partnership with The Paper Birds Theatre Company which provided acting workshops and creative ideas for students.

West Yorkshire Police’s strategic engagement officer also supported the piece, hosting a session at the college to discuss the dangers of knife crime. The performance toured across Leeds secondary schools and was shortlisted for two industry awards; Leeds Child Friendly Awards under Communities and Schools Working Together and an Educate North Award in the Community Engagement category.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s performance will be accessed online through Crowdcast. The performance will last for 20 minutes and will be available to more than 200 secondary schools in Leeds from May 22.

This year’s ‘online’ theme aims to inform and educate young people across the district on important issues. The increase of internet usage amongst teenagers has risen sharply due to the development of social media platforms and a significant amount of young people are being exposed to challenging situations.

The production aims to educate young people on how to stay safe online and report any concerns that may arise.

For more information about the performance, or about creative arts courses on offer at the college, visit leedscitycollege.ac.uk.