Issue 2: Introducing Sarah Lewis

I’m Sarah Lewis, and I work with ENO Engage as a creative learning specialist alongside my main job teaching Year 2 in a large Primary school in Oxfordshire. Like many teacher-types, I like to organise things in labelled baskets and have a penchant for nice colouring pencils. Wife, mum of two and, although I am no opera aficionado, I am an enthusiastic shower singer with an ameteur orchestral and wider Arts background. Having worked with a number of large cultural organisations to develop their primary schools offer, such as the Greater London Authority and Southbank Centre, I was thrilled when the ENO reached out to begin working together after the pandemic. 

The most important part of my role with ENO Enage is to provide the “voice of the teacher”, which includes advising on current practice in schools and ensuring appropriate links to the curriculum are made when they are producing materials for Primary age pupils. Some examples of my involvement include creating an accompanying family activity pack for AbracadOpera! – a short film in association with SkyArts,  and I am immensely proud to have been a part of creating the Primary strand of Finish This.  My role was to write the scheme of work and lesson plans, and devise/deliver the related CPD materials and sessions to participating schools. It has been incredibly rewarding to see the project continue to grow from the pilot to reaching nearly 5000 pupils this year, but also to hear how much enjoyment, progression in skill and widening participation the project is enabling.