Playing it Safe intertwines the past with the present day as it tells the story of 10-year-old Denver, who has suffered a serious accident having decided to venture in to a construction site with a friend. Arc's touring piece includes an interactive session, which engages young audiences on the subject of peer pressure and personal and group safety, highlighting the dangers found on construction sites and the consequence of ignoring those dangers and the warning signs displayed. 

 

Clifford Oliver who wrote Playing it Safe and performs as Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Arc's piece says: "From experience, we know these interactive sessions to work extremely well in helping young people understand the issues, identify what makes good and bad choices, develop critical thinking paths and question their own sense of personal responsibility, helping them to make changes towards more positive decision-making in the future."

 

 

 

 

Images: Top banner: Clifford Oliver and Simran Kular in Playing it Safe in school, courtesy of HS2 Ltd.
Right: Clifford Oliver as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, c.Arc Theatre

 

Playing it Safe has particular relevance to PSHE, Citizenship and Social, Moral, Cultural and Spiritual development at Key Stage 2, including: 

• Health & Safety - keeping yourself safe;
• Rights, responsibilities and choices;
• Consequences of behaviours and actions on self and others;
• Responsible citizens and how we participate in the wider community;
• Peer pressure and bullying;
• Gender equality;
• Emotional intelligence;
• Making reasoned arguments;
• Thinking ahead and spotting dangers;
• Personal responsibility and who to talk to if you have concerns about safety.

Playing it Safe also complements a range of Key Stage 2 National Curriculum statutory and non- statutory programmes of study, including English (including spoken language and in particular within a historical context, vocabulary and comprehension, speaking and listening) and History (including an understanding of life in the 1800s).

Arc's last programme for schools exploring building site safety was the highly successful Safe Health & Safety workshop project for the London 2012 Olympics, Network Rail and Transport for London, which toured the five Olympic host Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Greenwich and Newham from 2008-10.