Alight Fingers provide circus workshops to schools. They call it ‘learning through play’ because it reflects the emphasis of the session and promotes a happy and positive attitude for approaching things. Learning to juggle and circus workshops are the perfect tool for teaching people to believe they can achieve the impossible. It's also great fun and suitable for all ages and abilities.

“I love the look in people's eyes when they suddenly realise they can, and are juggling. They usually drop a fraction of a second afterwards because they're so shocked they're actually doing it. Half the trick is getting over the shock that you're capable of doing these things.”

Learning to do the impossible is of course, not easy, in fact it’s actually quite hard, but as people who defy gravity on a daily basis, Alight Fingers can pass on the easy ways to achieve it. They can teach juggling skills, plate spinning, diabalos, devil sticks, poi. contact juggling and chair balancing, balance beams, chinese ribbons, stilts, pedal-gos, unicycles, balancing feathers, and hula hoops. Also if you have any special requests they will try to accommodate you or find someone else who can.

As a rough guide a workshop for 20 can be handled effectively by one instructor but if you have volunteers to assist that will reduce the number of leaders required. Also different styles of workshop are better suited to different group sizes, so Alight Fingers can discuss this to ensure you get the most from your play and learn session.

Workshops are great fun and equally appealing to pupils who are normally difficult to engage or more suited to an alternative curriculum. Juggling has been shown in scientific studies to aid development of the brain. It's also been linked to improved academic skills, and it's fantastic for team building. In schools teachers have also linked it to improvements in behaviour, as well as improvements in concentration and reading.

It also helps personal development in many other ways...

• it's excellent gentle exercise

• improves hand to eye coordination

• increase your reflex speed

• improves your sense of rhythm

• great sense of achievement from learning new things

• stress relief and heightened sense of well being

• learning how to break down problems into manageable chunks

• improves the ability to concentrate

• builds self confidence

• provokes an interest in life long learning

• as competitive as you want it to be

Circus workshops will leave your pupils with a lasting feel good factor and the experience can have a positive outcome on participants’ personal development and attitudes to learning and school.

Key information

• CRB clearance
• Public Liability Insurance for all workshops.
• Totally flexible service
• Teacher or Teaching Assistant required in attendance during workshops
• Classes for 7 years+ and teachers welcome too
• Risk assessments and safety procedures
• Also available for performance work
• Full consultation service