CHILDREN at two West Cumbrian schools came together to learn about musical theatre.

Year 5 pupils at Dearham School visited Mayfield school yesterday to join them in workshops on Grease and Matilda.

It is part of Mayfield's two weeks of musicals activities, which will culminate with a show on March 29.

Adam MacCreedy, Year 5 teacher at Dearham School, was leading the Matilda workshops.

He said: "The idea of us coming here is to build connections between the two schools and between children. The facilities here are brilliant. It's gone really well and it's nice to see the two schools coming together."

Mr MacCreedy worked with the children on the characters of Matilda, their facial expressions and how they move. The groups also practised dance routines to some of the songs.

Mayfield pupils will take part in a range of activities to learn about all aspects of theatre, including makeup design and set design.

They will also go on trips to different charities and groups to learn about different aspects of musical theatre and will visit Workington's Theatre Royal this week where they will also join in a recording session with charity Soundwave.

Carolyn Westnedge, assistant headteacher at Mayfield, said: "Because we moved to the new campus in January, we didn't have a Christmas production and the idea is that we would go big afterwards.

"It's going really well, everybody is happy and they've all been joining in."

She added: "Children don't have to take part in all the activities, it's about what they're interested in, that's why we offer different opportunities. Some children aren't interested in performing so on the day of the show they may decide to help serve popcorn or show people to their seats.

"It can be hard for some of our children because it takes them out of their routine, for others it's easier. But joining in activities they're interested in enables us to engage them more and go out of their comfort zone. It's about giving them opportunities to try it."