While working at BBC Wales, Tommy produced a programme about people in the valleys making change and lifting their community. He met a man called Mr Davies who proved to be an inspiration. ‘There was nothing in the area at all except for this incredible man running his own drama department. Students were going straight from him to drama school, and to work in theatres. He was absolutely driven. He asked if I would like to do some work with him, so I helped direct a play and from there, I decided that I should go into teaching.’
Tommy worked in a school in Dorset where he got the funding to build a theatre, before moving to a school in Reading where he built up an arts department that won national awards, including Cultural Establishment of the Year and a personal award as Teacher of the Year.
He has been at Chiswick School for four years and this year the school won a TES Schools Awards for Excellence in Creative Arts. Judge Lucy Cuthbertson praised the reach of the Creative Arts department both at school and in the community. She said: ‘Chiswick has a broad offering across the arts, and all of them are great with everyone taking part. They are clearly doing something extraordinary. They go out of their way to stretch their students and not do the predictable.’
Chiswick School is the only state school in an affluent area of London dominated by the independent sector. They needed to raise the profile of the school because they were overlooked, and even mistrusted, by the local community.
Given that so many schools are struggling to keep arts alive and pupils are being steered towards STEM, not STEAM, TeachingTimes was keen to find out if Tommy Robinson has a magic formula.