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News and events from St. Aidan’s Church of England High School | December 2014 Inside this issue... p3 p4 p5 p8 p12 Christmas Truce Shakespeare Festival GCSE Presentations Shoe Maker Review Sports Results Oh what a circus! Oh what a show! Full Evita Review - Page 2 Christmas is almost upon us and within school as well as the enter the festive season. Thank s I believe that everyone involved awesome performance of you to the students, the staff, the e with the school is ready for that ‘Twelfth Night’ as part of this governors and you the parents time where we can relax within year’s Shakespeare Festival at n for all that you offer the school i l our families and celebrate the the Carriageworks Theatre, and may I wish you a very Happy birth of Jesus. The term has Leeds. These two events d Christmas and Healthy start to once again been highly combined with recent statistics 2015. a successful in so many ways placing St Aidan’s in the top 3% e but one must mention the of schools nationally have left us outstanding production of ‘Evita’ all on an amazing high as we H John Wood, Headteacher ST. AIDAN’S CHURCH OF ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOL News Evita Review Evita Review by Henry Hawkes 9Y On the evening of Tuesday 25th November, St Aidan’s was transported to another continent with the opening night of this year’s musical production, Evita. The Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd To quote some of Tim Rice’s EVITA has just a small number of named Webber hit tells the story of Eva Peron, character parts and a large ensemble. The wife of former Argentinian leader, Juan lyrics above hardly does justice chorus excelled themselves in every scene Peron, and her journey from poverty to to the amazing event that was offering us heartbroken mourners, tango hall the world stage. From the start the dancers, aristocrats, soldiers, unionists at a rally EVITA. Over six stunning narrative is driven by the Latin- and many more roles. The lead roles were American sounds of tango and salsa, performances audiences were consistently excellent. Dougie Ives and Jeremy Davison shared the part of ‘Magaldi’ the tango which the musicians behind the stage captivated by the incredibly high singer bringing a delightfully macho approach clearly enjoyed to the full. standard of this year’s St Aidan’s with great top notes. Singing one of the classic Supported by a large and talented songs of the show were Faye Weerasinghe and cast, the story is told through the main show. With a combination Bekki Stevenson as the mistress. Both gave voices of Evita (Lydia Bradd), Che of terrific acting, high quality incredible heart and soul to the song ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ with the audience (Beau Hill-Smith) and Colonel Peron singing, fabulous music and sharing in their pain and loss. (Jacob Dudman). The polished performances and strong vocals utterly professional technical The principal characters added such depth to created a fantastic show and any one effects, it was hard to believe this their roles that they were totally convincing. Jacob Dudman as Peron demonstrated a gravitas way of them may go on to be professional was in fact a school production. beyond his years and an exquisite voice. Beau actors/singers. The theme of the Hill-Smith owned the stage as Che, strutting evening was started before the Directed by Mr MacCallum, the set was pared around completely confident of his character and back to basics with a striking balcony audience got to their seats as they delivering beautiful singing. Taking on the role of constructed out of scaffolding and scenes were greeted at the door by leather- Evita, Lydia Bradd was simply stunning. She has created for the audience through the use of coated, plain clothes police and a rare combination of gifted singing voice across images projected onto giant screens. EVITA is a uniformed guards. The superb ‘40s a very wide range, phenomenal dancing skills and very challenging show to carry off as it combines the ability to act and convey every aspect of Eva style costumes looked fabulous. incredibly hard music to play with a complex as she grows from a child to a powerful woman. Fund-raising was undertaken for the storyline. This production coped effortlessly with Teenage Cancer Trust, in memory of The dancing was vibrant and exciting combining these demands as the musicians played to such Evita who died of bowel cancer. Apart a high standard that it sometimes felt as if a Latin rhythms and colourful interpretation. Huge backing track had been used whilst the actors’ thanks to Ms Miller for her choreography. Mrs from the incredible actors and clear interpretations of their roles led the audience Collett was Musical Director leading the cast ensemble it was obvious that huge through the plot to its dramatic finale. through the complex singing parts. With further amounts of effort came from the help from Ms Strickland as producer and Mr Ives backstage crew and the technical For the first time in a St Aidan’s production, the as Front of House, it really was a team effort. band were placed in a conventional orchestra pit production teams who made the whole behind the stage. Mr Pallant, Band Director, led Well done to everyone involved. St Aidan’s could performance possible. them with panache whilst Mr Tom Pallant, Music not have asked for a bigger, bolder or more An inspiration to all of us younger successful show. Linking the show to fundraising Technician, ensured that the sound mix was spot students who harbour acting on. Thanks must also go to Year 12 student, Ed for the Teenage Cancer Trust was inspired and so Taylor for the stunning lighting used to highlight far over £2500 has been raised. Look out for the ambitions! the storyline. auditions to next year’s show in the New Year! 2 way Event Year 9 Children Recreate the 1914 Christmas Truce Nearly 100 years after the 1914 Christmas Truce, over 200 Year 9 pupils recreated the moment when soldiers in the trenches met in No Man's Land to exchange presents and play a friendly game of football. "The Christmas truce was a moment of peace, a light in the darkness of war," said History teacher Mr Beer. "In my opinion it was the most significant event of the war. It showed that even in the horror of war, men can overcome differences." Wearing either the khaki and green colours of British forces or the grey of the Germans, Year 9 pupils lined up on opposite sides of the football pitch, before the re-enactment began with children on the German side of the pitch singing Silent Night in German, with those on the British side responding. Rob Horbury then became the first soldier from the German lines to walk into No Man’s Land. Sam Balgue, also with his hands raised, then broke through the barriers on the British side to meet Rob with a handshake. The rest of the Year did the same, exchanging gifts they had bought or made. After impromptu games of football, with coats used for goal posts, just as they were in 1914, pupils and those who watched the re-enactment gathered round a Christmas tree, brought out from Reception. Jack Wilkinson, Anna Beever, Daniel Jackson and Olivia Toy gave brief readings. The ceremony was concluded with The Last Post, a period of silence then Reveille. "It was a moving, poignant re-enactment,” said Mr Pocock who helped organise the event. “The Year 9s deserve great credit for the way they entered into the spirit of the occasion. They gave up their lunch hour and observed the silence immaculately.” 3 ST. AIDAN’S CHURCH OF ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOL News St Aidan’s students shine at Shakespeare Festival During October and November schools across the UK have been taking part in the Shakespeare Schools Festival and last Saturday St Aidan’s provided the closing performance for the festival in Leeds. Each school taking part gets to perform an abridged version of one of Shakespeare’s plays and St Aidan’s performed Twelfth Night. This is the tale of separated twins and mistaken identity is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies and was brought to life beautifully by the St Aidan’s cast. The Festival Director, Chris Grace said, “as always a brilliantly professional performance from every single member of the St Aidan’s cast. It is the attention to the detail and the truly ensemble approach that brings the story to life. Every performer had a reason to be there and knew their character, no matter how large or small the part they played.” The students were from Year 10 and above and Director Fran Bray said; “The Festival is a wonderful chance for young people to work with professional actors and perform on a professional stage. They have worked hard and tonight was very special for all of them. They truly deserve the applause and plaudits they received.” Setting the story in the 1950’s gave the perfect context for the dilemmas faced by Viola in a male-led society, and also provided a great excuse to Chris Grace added, “St Aidan’s has a strong pedigree, with past include some belting rock and roll tracks as background music. The performances on the West End and in Downing Street. I always look forward costumes were vibrant and lively, and the sight of Malvolio in his gartered to a St Aidan’s production, and this year was a delight.

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