Theatre in Schools Scotland, the National Theatre of Scotland and Imaginate’s ambitious schools touring project, sponsored by The Scottish Salmon Company, is celebrating a successful conclusion to its initial three-year pilot scheme.

A report at the end of the 2016 – 2019 pilot has revealed the impressive statistics behind the project so far. Across the three years 14 productions have toured the country, reaching a total of 52,754 primary school children across 397 schools. This means that nearly 20% of all primary schools in Scotland have been visited by a production.

The project was able to expand its scope significantly, from an initial three productions visiting 61 schools in 2016, increasing to four productions in 196 schools the following year and finally eight productions in 237 different schools this year. The project has reached children across all 32 of Scotland’s local authority areas.

The report comes ahead of the 2019 UK Theatre Awards, in which Theatre in Schools Scotland has been nominated for an Excellence in Touring Award. The award winners will be announced on Sunday 27 October.

Set up in 2016, initially as a three-year pilot project, Theatre in Schools Scotland was developed with the ultimate aim of bringing high quality Scottish theatre to every school child in Scotland.

Recognising the world-class standard of Scotland’s children’s theatre and dance sector, the National Theatre of Scotland and Imaginate worked to ensure that school-age children across Scotland, from nursery to S1, would have access to exceptional theatre for children and young people within their school communities. Each year a programme of shows tailored for school halls tours throughout Scotland, with accompanying resources for teachers and children.

Following the success of the pilot the project continues to tour performances to Scotland’s schools, with Visible Fictions’ wordless comic show Slug set to visit schools in Gigha, Lochgoilhead, Bute, Ayr, Lyth, Edinburgh and Glasgow throughout November 2019.

The three-year Theatre in Schools Scotland report can be found here.