No joke... £13k school teaches girls stand-up
SOME children are simply born to be the class clown – amusing other pupils with their antics.
Now a £1 , 59-a-year girls’ school is taking that a step further by giving pupils lessons in stand-up comedy.
Headmistress Nina Gunson, who has just completed a comedy course herself, said stand-up skills would help girls fight their corner in the workplace in the future.
Mrs Gunson, 4 , has introduced the voluntary comedy classes for sixth-formers at 900-pupil Sheffield High School for Girls. The eight-week Stand Up To Stand Out course encourages 16 and 17-year-olds to step out of their ‘comfort zones’ by performing in front of each other. The hourly sessions teach students ‘to not take themselves too seriously’ as well as ‘to improvise, to take risks and be a little bit bolder when they need to’.
Mrs Gunson told the Girls’ Day School Trust conference in London yesterday that the course taught girls how to deal with ‘dead audiences’ and heckling – and cope with panic when humour falls flat. She said the skills learnt though comedy are ‘transferrable’ to stressful work situations, such as negotiating pay rises and making presentations.
The course culminates with pupils presenting comedy sketches or stand-up to the rest of the group.
Mrs Gunson said pupils are taught to think on their feet, which will help them in their future jobs. Girls learn not to be ‘too fazed by what someone might say and not to take things personally’.
The headmistress, who took part in a stand-up comedy course in London’s Soho over the summer, added: ‘A lot of the improvisation is about them preparing [to face] and being able to deal with a panic situation.’
Meanwhile, the £27 ,679-a-year chief executive of the GDST yesterday urged young women to be unapologetic about demanding equal pay.
Cheryl Giovannoni, who was recently named as the tenth highest earning charity leader, insisted that girls should grow up recognising their self-worth and not expecting to rely on their future husbands’ salaries.