PUPILS at schools throughout the district have performed the works of Shakespeare to a packed house at the Alhambra Theatre as part of three year project to make the bard's works more accessible.

Bingley Grammar School was awarded the Royal Shakespeare Learning and Performance Network Status three years ago, making it a “hub” for how the works of the world’s most famous playwright are taught locally.

It meant staff and pupils have been working in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The school has run numerous events and workshops that have directly benefited more than 4,000 students across Bradford, as well as others indirectly through further staff training for staff in schools further afield.

And yesterday pupils from all the schools involved in the project took turns to take the stage at the famous theatre to act out scenes from Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Other school involved in the partnership included Harden Primary School, Crossflatts Primary School, Eldwick Primary School and Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College.

There was a performance for fellow pupils yesterday afternoon, and in the evening a performance for families filled every seat of the theatre.

The project was given a boost the night before the performance, as the partnership between Bingley Grammar and the RSC was named winner of the Business in Schools Award at the Telegraph & Argus School Awards on Thursday.

Members of the Royal Shakespeare Company had visited the schools to hold rehearsals and make sure each of their performances were ready for yesterday's performances.

And although Friday's show was the culmination of the three year project, the schools plan to use what they have learned to keep their pupils engaged with Shakespeare for years to come.

Highlights of the project have included pupils at Harden Primary School working alongside students at Bingley Grammar School and Carlton Bolling College to recreate the opening of The Tempest and an annual Elizabethan Day with students at St Matthew's Primary School in Allerton, working with Bingley Grammar School students to explore Macbeth.

English teacher Liz Greenwood said pupils had been 'buzzing' about getting the change to perform at The Alhambra, adding: "The evening performance was packed. We never thought we'd get that many people coming.

"It went really well, the pupils were all buzzing. Because our pupils were the older ones you could really see the primary school children looking up to them, they were in awe.

"The project has given the children confidence and the staff confidence to teach it."

Emma Dickerson, of Harden Primary School, said: "The day went really well. It is a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to perform on a stage like this.

"We have broken things down to make it easier to understand for primary school pupils.

"The project has really boosted the confidence of a lot of children and given them great chances.

"Although we're coming to an end of the three years we're going to keep at it. This isn't the end, its just the start."

Some children from the school groups will join up with pupils from other hubs across the country for a performance at the RSC base in Stratford Upon Avon this summer.