A secondary academy in Sheffield has been named as the second biggest accessor in the country to a performing arts educational platform.

Students and staff at Outwood Academy City, based on Stradbroke Road, have been regularly using resources provided by Digital Theatre+ in the classroom and watching world-class theatre productions in their spare time.

As a reward for the academy’s impressive use of the resources available, all staff and students linked to its sponsor, Outwood Grange Academies Trust, will have full, free access to Digital Theatre+ until the end of December.

Erin Braithwaite, Director of Performing Arts at Outwood Grange Academies Trust, said:

“We are grateful to Digital Theatre+ for their support and would urge all staff and students across the Outwood Family to take advantage of their free access.

“The different types of toolkits, resources and productions available are invaluable to us as we work with our students to help them fulfil their potential. At Outwood we believe in putting students first, to raise standards and transform lives and working with world leading platforms like Digital Theatre+ is an important part of us achieving this aim.”

After being founded in 2009, Digital Theatre+ has established itself as the world’s leading educational platform for the performing arts, providing 3 million students in over 2,000 schools, colleges and universities across 98 countries with unlimited access to over 500 full-length productions and thousands of educational resources.

Some of the resources available include curriculum-mapped lesson toolkits on productions including ‘An Inspector Calls’, ‘Macbeth’, and ‘Romeo and Juliet.’

Neelay Patel, CEO of Digital Theatre+, said: “We're delighted to be supporting the students and teachers of Outwood Grange Academies Trust. 

“Opening up access to the arts has never been more important, and hearing that these students have benefitted from the productions and learning resources on Digital Theatre+, both in and outside of the classroom, is fantastic.” 

Erin added:

“The importance of resources like this cannot be overstated, especially when you consider what has happened in 2020. The real success here is that students have continued to access high quality theatre despite theatres being shut down and school trips being hampered by COVID.”

Any Outwood Family members who wish to take advantage of their free access should speak to the performing arts staff members at their academy for log-in details.