Our Impact
Every voice matters. Every contribution counts.
Bright Torches creates spaces where young people can take part: speaking, listening, questioning, imagining and developing ideas together.
We want young people to leave our work more engaged in their learning, more confident in their own ideas and more willing to share them. We want them to experience the classroom as a place where their contribution matters and where they belong.
For teachers, we want the impact to travel further — building confidence, creativity and practical approaches that continue to shape learning long after a Bright Torches practitioner has left the room.
We listen carefully to young people, teachers, families and partners, and use evaluation to understand what changes, what lasts and what we can do better.
Impact at a glance
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15,000+ young people engaged
Since 2021
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1,500+ teachers and educators reached
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Ages 3–18
Plus teachers at every stage of their careers
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UK & international
Schools, universities and education partners
What Changes?
Young people become active participants in their learning — making choices, testing ideas and discovering that learning is something they help to create.
“Getting out of my safe zone and actually being involved, but once I did I found myself enjoying it.”
Secondary student, Bright Torches workshop
Engagement
Young people articulate ideas, listen closely, encounter different perspectives and discover what they think.
“I enjoyed that you brought everyone in and everyone participated… I liked how you had people say their opinions.”
Secondary student, Bright Torches workshop
Talk
Working from inside a story encourages young people to question, interpret and develop responses of their own.
“It made me think about the play on a deeper level.”
Student, Priory School, Lewes
“Fresh eyes on a text can reveal a reading I’d never thought of.”
Conor Short, Bright Torches Practitioner
Thinking
When young people feel heard and valued, they begin to see themselves as people with something to say and something to contribute. Shared creative experiences can also help young people encounter one another differently and strengthen a sense of belonging.
“The talking exercises — I got to meet people in the class I wouldn’t really talk to and it was fun.”
Secondary student, Bright Torches workshop
Confidence and belonging
These experiences help create the conditions in which engagement, positive relationships with school, learning, attendance and attainment can grow.
Pandora’s Box is our immersive Early Years storytelling project, in which children step inside the story, make choices and help shape what happens next.
“He spoke lots about the different characters. He particularly loved the puppet which now lives in his bed. He told me a long monologue of the origin story of his puppet!”
Parent, Pandora’s Box Evaluation
Our Early Years evaluation found high levels of engagement, curiosity and participation, with children continuing to talk about and recreate their experiences beyond the original activities.
“I hope my child is exposed to activities like this more often. I could clearly see my son’s joy while talking about the activities in school.”
Parent & Carer Questionnaire, June 2026
From our youngest storytellers…
What teachers tell us
Teachers see what happens in the room — and what continues afterwards.
“It was fantastic to see you at work – the way that you captivated the children’s attention and supported them to think more deeply about the power of words, of speech and of action was wonderful to behold.”
“I can’t thank you enough for this. This will be giving me ideas for years to come!”
“We were all energised and encouraged by the energy and JOY in our classes!”
The Rehearsal Room in the Classroom
Observed by NATE
In 2026, Anthony Cockerill, Director of the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE), observed Bright Torches working with secondary students on Shakespeare for an article in Teaching English exploring the role of talk and rehearsal-room practice in the English classroom.
He observed students working on The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, using movement, performance, discussion and interpretation to encounter Shakespeare as something to be explored rather than simply received.
“The result is students who are given room to be confident, articulate, physically engaged, and intellectually challenged.”
Anthony Cockerill, Director, National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE)
Anthony also described the relationship between Bright Torches’ rehearsal-room practice and the classroom:
“The rehearsal room method you use so skilfully is perfectly attuned to what great English teaching looks and feels like.”
What education leaders say
Our work is informed by professional theatre practice but designed for the realities of classrooms.
“Rehearsal strategies are translated into actionable classroom pedagogy while maintaining the authenticity of Shakespeare’s stagecraft.”
Vicky Christoforatou
Lecturer in Education, PGCE Secondary English, University of East Anglia
Our university and teacher-education partnerships help us test, develop and share this practice with teachers at the beginning of their careers as well as experienced educators.
We want to know what difference our work makes.
Evaluation is built into our larger projects.
Read our transition project evaluation - Settling into secondary school with the help of shakespeare…
Read our EYFS project evaluation Pandora’s Box
Impact that travels
The impact of Bright Torches doesn’t end when a workshop finishes.
When teachers discover approaches that engage their students, generate purposeful talk and open up literature, those approaches can become part of everyday classroom practice.
When trainee teachers encounter this work at the beginning of their careers, its influence can travel into classrooms we may never visit and reach young people we may never meet.
That is why working alongside teachers is fundamental to Bright Torches.
We don’t just want to create memorable experiences.
We want to help create lasting change.
Be part of the story
As a registered charity, we want to bring this work to many more children, young people, teachers and communities.
