About Futureland
Futureland is a dynamic four-year hybrid programme designed for Southwark students aged 12–13. Led by Theatre Peckham in collaboration with Words of Colour, the initiative aims to enhance young people’s literacy, oracy, and writing skills through imaginative storytelling and creative exploration.
Supported by The Mercers’ Company, trustee to The St Paul’s Schools Foundation, as part of its Literacy Special Initiative Phase 2, Futureland invites students to envision and create narratives set 50 years into the future, inspired by themes they choose themselves.
Co-created with both teachers and students, the programme features an interactive toolkit packed with videos and audio content — designed to engage and inspire.
Creative sessions will be held at participating schools, Theatre Peckham, and Canada Water Library Theatre, encouraging students to explore and connect with local cultural spaces.
The partners
Theatre Peckham | theatrepeckham.co.uk
Theatre Peckham is an award-winning cultural venue for artistic excellence and social change. Through the power of theatre, it illuminates young voices, provides skills and opportunities, and platform excellent creatives who are locally focused with a national and international vision. Founded over 35 years ago, Theatre Peckham has a rich history of inspiring and educating thousands of young people through long-term engagement with the arts. At its South London home, it is committed to producing new writing and performance focusing on young, culturally diverse talent. The theatre’s mission is to place excellence, accessibility, inclusive engagement, and education at the centre of its artistic offer for the benefit of audiences and participants, from early years through to elders with particular focus on those aged 3-25. Theatre Peckham’s success is based on its commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
Words of Colour – The Immersive Change Agency | wordsofcolour.co.uk
Words of Colour creates alternative pathways and sustainable opportunities for writers, creatives, entrepreneurs and communities of colour to thrive – and for unheard stories to be told. Launched in 2006, it originates, curates, produces and collaborates on projects that straddle literature, creative industries, academia, research, digital entrepreneurship and creative wellbeing to generate meaningful change. Among its awards is the NESTA/Observer ‘New Radicals’ Award 2018 for the Synergi Collaborative Centre, a national initiative it co-founded, the Legacy Awards 2022 and HSJ Award for Mental Health Innovation of the Year 2023 for its co-produced work on creative interventions in mental health with Synergi-Leeds.
Timeline
2024 January
Programme Announced
Futureland is officially launched with thanks to The Mercers’ Company, trustee to the St Paul’s Schools Foundation, for funding the programme as part of its Literacy Special Initiative Phase 2. The project focuses on strengthening oracy, reading for pleasure, and creative writing—empowering young people to express themselves and explore the world through words.
We welcomed our two partner schools, Harris Academy Peckham and Charter East Dulwich to the Futureland project. This partnership set the stage for collaborative creativity, ensuring that young people and educators could actively shape and benefit from the project’s imaginative and inclusive learning experiences.
2024 February
Programme Planning
The Futureland team began detailed planning to ensure a meaningful and collaborative experience for students and educators. This included researching and reaching out to writers, playwrights, and theatre-makers of colour whose practice could inspire and engage young people in imaginative and creative ways.
Sessions were carefully scheduled across schools and cultural venues, with briefings held for teachers and school leaders to align on goals and expectations. Planning also included designing twilight CPD (Continuing Professional Development) sessions for teachers, focusing on how to support oracy, reading for pleasure, and creative writing in the classroom and link this work meaningfully to the wider curriculum.
This groundwork ensured that the programme would be co-created, accessible, and fun!
2025 January
School Sessions Begin
The first phase of Futureland launched in schools, marking the start of 10 Play Sessions with 60 Year 8 students across two schools in Southwark.
A diverse group of writers and artists of colour led the workshops, each bringing their unique creative practice to a student-chosen theme:
• Belinda Zhawi – explored the theme of Food
• DD Armstrong – led sessions on Hobbies
• Ramsey Hassan – worked with students on Aspirations
• Hawa Khan – focused on Family & Home
• Coral Wylie – facilitated sessions on Green Spaces
The workshops focused on creative writing, poetry, storytelling, and script work, empowering students to explore big ideas about the future through imagination and experimentation.
2025 February & March
Twilight CPD Sessions
As part of Future land’s commitment to whole-school impact, teachers took part in two twilight CPD sessions delivered by Words of Colour.
• Twilight 1 – Play as a Tool: Led by play expert Amber Ogunsanya-William, this session helped educators explore the vital role of play in supporting student wellbeing, creativity, and learning. Teachers gained practical strategies to incorporate play dynamically into their teaching practice, enriching classroom experiences for children.
• Twilight 2 – Anti-Racism and Inclusive Storytelling: Led by librarian and inclusive literature advocate Janet Noble, this session focused on the power of diverse children’s literature to foster equity, empathy, and belonging. Educators were introduced to a wide range of texts that reflect the lived experiences of their students, along with practical strategies to embed them in the curriculum and support a culture of reading for pleasure.
2025 May & July
Following their Play sessions earlier in the year, young people worked closely with theatre makers Montel Douglas and Deviniat Adedibu from Theatre Peckham. Together, they developed original creative work inspired by the themes explored during Futureland. This collaboration culminated in a special sharing event held at Canada Water, where students showcased their performances, celebrating their imaginations of a future 50 years from now.
Supporters
The Mercers’ Company | mercers.co.uk
The Mercers’ Company is a 700-year-old livery company focused on being a philanthropic force for good. Like its original benefactors, the Company believes in creating positive change so that everyone has the chance to lead a fulfilling life. Today, it coordinates its Philanthropy Framework, collaborating with the charities of which it’s a trustee, to help disadvantaged people to reach their potential. Approximately £10 million is distributed each year across the Mercers’ Company people-focused programmes to charitable causes – focused on relieving disadvantage in London, Norfolk and the Northeast of England. It expects to support 180 individual charities annually through its programmes. Its people-focused programmes include Young People & Education, Older People & Housing, Church & Community and newly launched Heritage & Arts.
The St Paul’s Schools Foundation | mercers.co.uk/Associated-Bodies
The charitable object of The St Paul’s Schools Foundation is ‘to promote in Greater London the education of boys and girls and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, to assist in the conduct and maintenance of schools in or near Greater London.’ The Foundation is best known for its support of St Paul’s Schools and St Paul’s Girls’ School and its grants to London-based educational initiatives. The two St Paul’s Schools are separate registered charities but have a long- shared history with the Foundation.
