Speech Bubbles - Half Moon Theatre

A targeted, year-long, evidence-based intervention for children in KS1 who have a Speech, Language and Communication Need: Speech Bubbles supports 20 children in Year 1 and Year 2 in developing their Speaking, Listening and Attention Skills and enhances the skills of a member of school staff (a high-level TA, Learning Mentor or SENCo, for example) to run small group creative work. The programme was developed by London Bubble Theatre Company, and has had impressive results for participating children and schools.

We are always interested in speaking to schools about possible partnerships for this project. Please email us to find out more. More information can be found in the download below:

Download the Speech Bubble Info Pack

Since we began delivering Speech Bubbles in 2012 we have worked with 19 primary schools (18 in Tower Hamlets and one in Brent) and over 960 children.

For further writing and research reports, please visit the Speech Bubbles website here.

Find out more about the impact of Speech Bubbles by reading our 2018-19 Evaluation Report:

Download the Evaluation Report

Education Endowment Foundation

Speech Bubbles was one of five projects chosen to be part of the Learning About Culture research programme led by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA). We were thrilled to be part of this initiative, allowing us to contribute to national research on the impact of our work.

In 2018-2019, 9000 pupils in 400 schools across England took part in trials to find out if different cultural learning approaches can help boost primary pupils’ achievement. For further information about the research please click here. As part of this research programme we delivered Speech Bubbles in four new primary schools in Tower Hamlets.

Speech Bubbles is being evaluated by a team of independent evaluators led by the University of London – Institute of Education and the Behavioural Insights Team.

This trial will evaluate the effect of Speech Bubbles on the communication skills and reading abilities of Key Stage 1 children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs. The results of this project will make a valuable contribution to understanding the development of children and significance of drama and storytelling in improving pupil attainment.

The delivery and evaluation of the programme has been funded through a partnership between the RSA and the EEF, with support from Arts Council England, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Foyle Foundation and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.