The beginning (2005)
Pyjama Drama Head Office is situated in beautiful Mid Wales and is run by founder Sarah Owen and her sister, Rachel McKenna. Sarah, an experienced drama teacher and mum of three, began developing the Pyjama Drama programme in 2005 whilst on Maternity Leave, and quickly realised the immense benefits that children derive from imaginative play. Rachel has a master’s degree in Teaching, as well as two young children of her own and many years’ experience of running her own design business.
The first UK franchise (2009), the first International franchise (2015)
Sarah began training others how to teach Pyjama Drama in 2009 when the first franchise was sold and Pyjama Drama expanded rapidly in towns, villages, and cities throughout the UK. In 2013 Sarah was commissioned to write a series for CBeebies Radio, in 2015 we trained teachers in Australia and Malaysia, and at the beginning of 2016, classes started in California, USA.
Award-winning training opportunities (2020)
In 2017, Sarah took her knowledge and understanding of training franchisees into the development of training courses and resources for early years practitioners and worked hard to develop their first online course, 'How to Become an Expert in Early Years Imaginative Play' which was shortlisted for Teach Early Years Awards in the CPD category in 2020 and 2021. Their second online course, 'An Introduction to Early Years Imaginative Play' won the Teach Early Years Award in the Language and Communication category in 2020, and in 2022, the 'Dip into Drama' curriculum was launched (and also shortlisted for an award). Pyjama Drama is proud to host its resources and online courses on MyCPDGroup, a one-stop shop for educators looking for inspirational, high-quality training opportunities.
Pyjama Drama in China (2021)
When the pandemic first hit in 2020, Pyjama Drama franchisees took their classes online, and in 2021, Sarah and Rachel started talking to Chenyu Ling from the education company LE FU Culture based in Shanghai. In February 2022, Chenyu started training to become a Pyjama Drama teacher and began to take the programme to children across the city, and beyond!
Pyjama Drama in India (2022)
Sarah and Rachel continued to collaborate with exciting international companies, like Jalsa Ventures in India, for example, whose vision for the future of children's education marries perfectly with their own. They also began working with Collective Learning, offering training and support for schools in their home country of Wales in the UK.
Expansion of in-person training (2023)
Post-pandemic, Sarah and Rachel began to take their training into local communities, visiting schools, nurseries, and preschools and attending training conferences for early years professionals looking for strategies and resources to help them target the development of children's life skills. They also trained over 100 nursery practitioners in nurseries across India, launched their first training opportunity for parents, and launched classes in Mumbai.
Future plans
Sarah and Rachel are all too aware of the need for high-quality activities that specifically target the development of children's life skills and continue to look for training opportunities in the UK and internationally. They also continue to search for entrepreneurs looking to run their own Pyjama Drama business and will be eternally grateful for their team of wonderfully passionate franchisees, without whom Pyjama Drama would not be where it is today.