West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust, celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday this week.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in April 1564. The exact date of his birth is not recorded, but it is most often celebrated around the world on the 23rd of April.  Shakespeare also died on 23 April; in 1616, when he was 52 years of age.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust states that: 

Shakespeare’s baptism is recorded in the Parish Register at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday 26 April 1564. Baptisms typically took place within three days of a new arrival, and parents were instructed by the Prayer Book to ensure that their children were baptised no later than the first Sunday after birth. This means that it’s unlikely that Shakespeare was born any earlier than the previous Sunday, 23 April. Given that three days would be a reasonable interval between birth and baptism, 23 April has therefore come to be celebrated as his birthday. 

To mark the day, Year 8 students at West Exe School explored some of the most memorable scenes from Shakespeare’s most famous plays.  The school is also holding a creative writing script competition to discover any budding playwrights!

At West Exe they explicitly teach in depth social and literary contexts to ensure that students have the cultural capital to appreciate how the written word can be used to bring about social change and, more importantly, social justice.  The English curriculum is deliberately academic and covers a broad range of contexts that are designed to inform students’ interpretation of texts and ideas, this allows students to explore perspectives outside of their own, to promotes a greater understanding and appreciation of difference and diversity.

 Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said:

“It was great to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday this week, his plays remain such a core part of young people’s literary journey and I am excited to see the submissions for the creative writing competition.” 

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“I was delighted to hear that West Exe School marked Shakespeare’s birthday in appropriate dramatic fashion by exploring some of his most memorable scenes.  Learning more about the author is such a helpful way of bringing texts to life for students and helps everything they learn to really stick with them.”