Throughout our Festival Year, Children’s Capital of Culture worked with more than 120 schools and colleges across Rotherham. Together with our partners, we supported children and young people to grow as confident, creative change-makers in their communities.
Our creative learning programme aimed to:
- Help children and young people feel proud to call Rotherham their home.
- Increase access to arts, sports and cultural experiences.
- Encourage children to become imaginative thinkers and curious learners who made decisions about the things that mattered to them.
- Introduce children to a wide range of creative careers.
To achieve this, we collaborated with schools, libraries and local and national creative, sporting and cultural organisations. These partnerships opened doors to inclusive projects, festivals and events for children and young people across the borough.
Reach
During REACH dance festival, children from more than twenty schools devised new performances inspired by Children’s Capital of Culture themes. They shared their work at a two‑day festival at Rotherham Civic Theatre in June 2025, produced in partnership with School Games.
In 2026, the Reach Dance Festival will celebrate the National Year of Reading, inviting children to create and perform new work inspired by themes and ideas from books.
Find out more about REACH 2025 in this short film:
Reanimate
Children and young people from six schools will work with Kettu Studios and a group of emerging digital artists from Rotherham to create a new animated film. They will share the journey of a flying car, powered by clouds – with the power to change the world!
The film will double as creative consultation about the future of play in the borough and will premiere at our new festival, REPLAY.
Redesign
Teachers and artists joined forces with children and young people to introduce new creative activities in their schools and communities. Thirteen schools took part, leading to projects including a garden, a podcast series, new school murals, a crochet club, a sculpture and even a colony of bees.
Find out more about The Bee Project in this short film:
Reimagine
Primary children from Rotherham schools collaborated with Chol Theatre to build new “Imaginary Communities.” This drama approach where all participants are equal play makers, built confidence, empathy, creativity and teamwork.
Remake
Working with The University of Sheffield’s Maker{Futures}, teachers and librarians designed playful makerspace activities inspired by fiction and non‑fiction books. Children took on the roles of designers and problem‑solvers, building understanding of science, technology, engineering and maths.
Find out more about REMAKE in this short film:
Replay festival
REPLAY was a joyful celebration of children and young people’s creativity and play. The festival showcased digital media arts projects that were part of the Arts Council England funded, Place Partnership programme, including films, games, zines and photography made by children and young people in local schools and colleges.
REPLAY ran from 10 to 15 November 2026 in schools, at the Arc Cinema, at Wentworth Woodhouse and in ROAR’s Garage Gallery.
Each of these creative learning projects aimed to develop children and young people’s digital literacies and to embed opportunities for developing agency.
Rewrite
Our literacy projects—including Articulation with the National Gallery, Rotherham Young Writers with Hive South Yorkshire, Unknown Stories with Grimm & Co, and a work‑experience programme in interactive storytelling—offered children and young people new ways to express themselves.
Creative Producers: Future Play
Three SEND schools explored the future of play through sound and visual art with the Blanket Fort Club. After experiencing a sensory, immersive performance of ‘Last Unicorn Airways,’ groups created new games through play, music, movement and drama.
One group designed an escape room with artist Natasha Poland, complete with an animated maze. Others created sound pieces with musician and producer Tom Shawcroft, using a joystick composer, an Odd Ball, percussion, voice and synthesizers.
Musician and producer, Tom Shawcroft, used colour and play to enable two further groups to create music and sounds with a joystick composer, an Odd Ball, their voice, percussion and synths.
Professional development
We supported teachers, librarians and creative practitioners to share and strengthen their practice. Our monthly Creative Teach‑Meets became welcoming spaces for collaboration and inspiration, connecting schools and libraries with national partners such as the Royal Ballet and Opera, the National Gallery and Creativity, Culture and Education.
Creative Learning Resources
Schools were invited to celebrate Children’s Capital of Culture by holding assemblies and creating vibrant library displays. These resources helped foster a love of reading and encouraged children to explore new creative opportunities.
Partnership projects
We were delighted to work with brilliant partners including Flux Rotherham, Rotherham Music Service and the Yorkshire Sport Foundation. Together, we supported co‑produced projects with children, young people and their communities and helped schools get involved in exciting, new, cultural performances. For example, Speedwell Dance’s ‘The Mountain Witch’ was developed with children in Rotherham and then performed in Rotherham schools.