IT was a real pleasure to visit Ide Primary School and watch the dancers from the Royal Ballet at work, showing the children just how much fun creative dance can be.

The school hall had been turned into a dance studio. There was a great deal of leaping, spinning and laughter, but what struck me most was the level of concentration on display.

Young children are not always known for standing still and listening carefully, yet here they were, following every instruction, working together and clearly loving every single minute of it.

Programmes like this matter. Plenty of children never get anywhere near a ballet studio, and a few hours with professional dancers can open a door they did not even know existed.

For some, it may spark a lifelong love of dance.

For others, it will simply be a wonderful and memorable morning that builds confidence, coordination and a sense of what they are capable of. Both outcomes are worth a great deal.

The national picture shows why this kind of opportunity is so valuable.

According to the Cultural Learning Alliance, entries for arts GCSEs in England have fallen by around 42 per cent since 2010.

Approximately 83 per cent of secondary schools now have no pupils sitting GCSE Dance at all. The number of arts teachers in state secondary schools has dropped by around 27 per cent since 2011, from approximately 55,000 to around 40,000.

There is a gap at primary level too. Recent research found that around 47 per cent of primary teachers in independent schools have more than two and a half hours of arts timetabled each week, compared with approximately 6 per cent in state schools.

Around 28 per cent of primary teachers say the time they spend teaching the arts has fallen over the past two years.

None of this is a criticism of our teachers, who do a remarkable job with busy timetables and many competing demands. But it does mean that visits from organisations like the Royal Ballet can make a real difference, particularly for children in rural areas where the nearest professional theatre may be many miles away.

It is encouraging to see a national institution looking well beyond London to reach young people right here in Devon. The Royal Ballet and Opera offers free training, lesson plans and live online dance lessons to state schools, and aims to reach around 30 per cent of primary schools in the country by 2028. I would encourage any local school that has not yet looked into it to do so.

Evidence from schools taking part suggests that creative dance can boost wellbeing, confidence and social skills, as well as helping with subjects across the curriculum.

My thanks go to the staff at Ide, the Royal Ballet team and, above all, the children, for making me feel so welcome.

Mel Stride

MP for Central Devon