Resource review: The Curiosity Index

On its 20th anniversary, theatre company Les Enfants Terribles (LET) launched a new website for teachers. Named The Curiosity Index, the platform promises ‘300+ resources in one place’. My curiosity piqued, I register with an email address, and I'm in.

The home screen is bursting with colour, like being on the front row of a LET show. There are lots of images associated with different shows – Alice's Adventures Underground, The Terrible Infants, and more – alongside different types of resources: trailers, mood-boards, scripts and a MadCap Theatre Pinterest page.

It is great fun, and a wonderous peek into the joyous theatre they create. There's an amazing 20-minute-long puppetry video including extracts from The House with Chicken Legs. Most resources are images, such as old tour posters and designs. As rich as they are, there is no supporting information attached to them. There is a great photo from The Vaudevillains, but it has no context with it or any suggestions on how to use it in the classroom.

Each resource is categorised by key stage, ages it might suit, curriculum area, the production it's from, and which GCSE assessment objective it relates to. But again, this is not followed up with notes on how you might apply the resource, or links to any lessons plans. The very useful search facility also filters resources by type, such as by image, video, audio or education pack.

Given that LET productions are known for innovative props, puppetry, and creating weird worlds, the focus here on costume and set is natural; the designs, mood boards and model boxes are top quality, offering a fascinating insight into the company's process. These resources are valuable, giving teachers a chance to mine this glorious back-catalogue and devise their own activities and lessons. Perhaps over time the site can develop to include more teaching materials to support the resources.

The teaching materials that are there, are superb. The Trench education packs are excellent – they are well aligned with the exam specifications and directly link to materials on the site such as videos and scripts. The pack contains illuminating material on costume, set design, and puppetry, with practical exercises, and good advice on how to then write about these design elements in the exam. There are also acting exercises, focused on character through Stanislavski, and some devising workshops too.

Oliver Lansley, artistic director, hopes The Curiosity Index can be ‘a fountain of inspiration, accessible to everyone, examining the creative process of 20 years of Les Enfants Terribles’. It is an impressive, user friendly, inspiring, comprehensive history, that has lots of resources and some good teaching materials. I am grateful that I signed up and look forward to seeing how the collection grows and evolves.

Unlock all the free resources here: www.thecuriosityindex.co.uk