G l e n t h o r n e H i g h S c h o o l

Arts College News

‘A Decade of Performance’

Creative Arts Evening 7 & 8th

December 2011

This year Creative Arts evening was a celebration of success – 10 years suc-cess as an Arts College. Glenthorne High School was awarded Specialist Arts Col-lege in 2002, with a specialist focus in Performing Arts. This was also the year that the school introduced Creative Arts Evening. An opportunity for pupils to perform in a variety of art forms, Dance, Drama and Music. In latter years this has expanded to include Media, Art and ‘ArtsOne’ .

Creative Arts Evening this year provided a retrospective evening of nostalgia and memories as we looked back over the last ten years of Glenthorne as an Arts College: a decade of performance.

The last ten years have seen hundreds of outstanding productions, shows and concerts giving pupils the opportunity of developing their skills and talents, work-ing with others and performing in pub-lic. Pupils also have the opportunity of participating in a wealth of extra-curricular activities, including our Satur-day arts programmes: ArtsOne, ArtsOne Rocks, AD1 and Fine ArtsOne.

The tenth Creative Arts Evening did not disappoint, featuring over 400 partici-pants performing in all the art forms: singing, music-making, dancing, acting and video-making.

It was an amazing evening’s entertain-ment. Thanks to all the staff for their involvement this year and over the last ten years. Congratulations to all the pupils who participated in a moment of history: a celebration of a decade of performance at Glenthorne High School.

VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 25 DECEMBER 2011

A Decade of Performance

Coming Soon……………

the whole school Production of

HAIRSPRAY!

Monday 30th, Tuesday 31st January &

Wednesday 1st February 2012

See inside for more details…………….Box

Office opens in the New Year………………..

‘Impact’, the school’s annual Dance Show, proved to be a huge success this year. Fea-turing 170 pupils from all year groups per-forming a diverse range of dances over three separate shows on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th November 2011, the per-formances were full of creativity, enthusi-asm and energy.

Congratulations to all dancers for their out-standing performances; particular congratu-lations to all new faces to the show espe-cially our new Year 7s, and to three Year 13 girls, Charlotte Hannah, Georgia Morris and Hannah Peacock, who have been in every single Dance Show since Year 7 and have been such excellent role models for young pupils. Awards this year went to:

Most Outstanding Dancer-

Kiera Maguire Yr11

Most Improved Dancer-

Folu Odimayo Y10

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Selection Day 2011

What was the buzz?? Once again the school was bursting with year six pupils

keen to display their aptitude in the Performing Arts. Saturday 5th November

was the day of the Performing Arts Selection with pupils auditioning for a

selected place. As an Arts College the school selects 10% of its intake from

pupils who show an aptitude in the Performing Arts. The first in-take of select-

ed pupils was in 2003 and those pupils are now at University! Over 120 pupils

attended the selection day and there seemed to be a variety of responses –

excited faces, eager parents, nervous pupils, very keen children! A very busy

day indeed with an overall 12 workshops being led and marked by the fantas-

tic Performing Arts Team. Performing Arts staff were very impressed with the

pupils and it didn’t take long for any traces of nerves to disappear. It was

amazing to see such enthusiasm and talent. Well done to everyone who took

part. Pupils will be informed of places at the end of the Spring term.

Selected Student Review……...War Horse

On the 1st of November 2011, selected students at Glenthorne were given the opportunity to go and see the famous production of War Horse at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane. 2 year twelve stu-dents and 10 year ten pupils were accompanied by Miss Thomson and Mr Walsh on the Tuesday night trip which saw us witnessing one of the best modern plays in history.

The story tells of a young man named Albert, his horse Joey and their incredible struggle to survive the Great War. Eerie music, master puppeteers, flawless actors and at times, explosive special effects burst onto this well-trodden stage with all the frenzy of live action. Through thick and thin, we watched as two heart-warming characters work tirelessly to be reunited and, as audience members, we are lead through paths of discovery we previously thought impossible. The skill displayed by the courageous men and women who operated the delicate life-size puppet horses - which dominate the performance - is so realistic that, after a short space of time, you forget they are wood and fabric and you truly believe that they are living, breathing animals. To many individuals, the trials and tribulations of the First World War may not be fully known. Having seen this play, I can confidently say that - no matter what your prior knowledge of history - the factual truths which are dramatised here will never leave you and the image of Joey and Albert will always remain one of the most beautiful moments in theatre. A resounding success, this play will give you goose bumps and it even brought tears to the eyes of some audience members! On exiting the theatre, the cast greeted us and showed us their support for modern soldiers by selling poppies to raise funds for the Poppy Appeal and the donations they received were phenomenal. The night ended later than planned however, it was worth the lack of sleep to be able to say, “I have seen War Horse………..”

By Holly Mackinlay

Year 7 Music Instrumental Taster Week At the beginning of the new term, Year 7 were offered Instrumental Taster lessons to decide if we wanted to learn a new instrument. There were two different types of taster lessons– classical instruments such as french horn, flute and trumpet and more contemporary instru-ments such as guitar, bass guitar and vocals.

For my group’s taster lesson, we were given the chance to learn the guitar, bass and vocals! First, we had guitar, it was very fun! We played a bit of “Guess the Tune”. The guitar teacher played songs such as Price Tag by Jessie J and Back in Black by ACDC!

Next, we had a go at bass. It was really good and made me consider having bass lessons! We all took it in turns to learn the basics of the bass. One by one we made up our own tunes!

Finally, we had singing lessons. They were very interesting and we learnt all about how to sing from our diaphragm and lots of great breathing techniques.

After experiencing that great hour of learning different instruments, I decided I definitely wanted to have either bass lessons or singing lessons. After a long time thinking about which to choose, I finally decided to have singing lessons.

I had my first lesson on Thursday 28th September and I had a great time and can’t wait for future lessons!

By Amelia Langley – 7N

Selected Pupil workshops

KS3 pupils have had a great start to the year with three diverse workshops. Zumbatonic was an in-spiring start to the term and involved all pupils learning about Latin American dance moves. This was followed by a vocal workshop led by Emma Osei-lah a professional recording artist. The last workshop of the term was led by Margaret Tully who inspired pupils with her energetic (and funny) interpretation of drama. Well done KS3, your com-mitment to these workshops has been outstanding.

KS4 pupils have been equally busy, mainly in their

chosen art forms of Drama, Dance and Music.

Thank you to Ms Thompson who ran the trip for

these pupils to see ‘War Horse’.

Immersion Days 2011

2011 saw the continuation of Immersion

Days into the Year 8 curriculum. Three cross-

curricular days have been planned with Mu-

sic, Drama, ICT, Art and Geography. The first

day was called ‘Perception’ and tied in with

the theme ‘Who do you think you are?’.

Pupils were led via an inspirational assembly

by Mr Berry, followed by themed lessons.

Badge making, song writing, role play and

creating information systems were all part of

the challenge

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The Community Choir made their debut performance at the annual Carol Service for charity at All Saints Church in Carshalton on Thursday 15th December.

Everyone had a fantastic time and was a great start to the festive season!

Music Technology Inset

The department was lucky to be visited from Edexcel this term to have first-hand training on developing the teaching and learning of Music Technology A Level. With representa-tives of other local schools also present, we examined the expectations of the different elements of the course and of course had a prime selection of sandwiches to keep us well fed!

Brookfield Primary Mr Gay has worked with Mrs Parry’s Year 6 class at Brookfield Primary. This term, the pupils have visited Glenthorne each Thursday A week to work on mu-sic projects about the instruments of the orchestra and also did some vocal work in preparation for their Christmas show ‘Ebenezer Scrooge’.

Sutton (Surrey) Music Network / ‘Hub’

Glenthorne High School Specialist Arts College and the Sutton Music Service work together in partnership to run the Sutton Music Network (SMN) meetings throughout the year for Prima-ry and Secondary schools. The meetings take place at Glenthorne chaired by SMS Director Nigel Hiscocks and Head of Music/SSAT Lead Practitioner Ben Cleverdon.

The partnership and meetings provide a forum for shared good practice, CPD, local concert/event news and updates in music education and the national agenda. Arising from the net-work ,Glenthorne Music ASTs/SSAT Lead Practitioners in Music have been able to run outreach and CPD for local primary and secondary schools in addition to servicing requests for Music Technology support by sending out a Music Technician to sup-port other local schools.

Local service providers have attended the network meetings to offer discount schemes and the Music Service provides website support for school concerts, repertoire, cost-effective ‘shared’ INSET, instrumental hire and a popular ArtsOneRocks! Saturday school attended by students across the borough.

National Youth Theatre Auditions The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain discovers, in-spires, and trains diverse young talent from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Youth Theatre have been providing the next generation of creative, articulate, respon-sible citizens for 55 years. This year, we have several stu-dents auditioning for the National Youth Theatre. The Drama Department will be working closely with those students to mentor them for their auditions. Eight students will be audi-tioning for the acting course and 1 student will be audition-ing for the technical course. We would like to wish the fol-lowing students the best of luck for their auditions and inter-views: Conor Terry, Jack Connor, Eileen Duffy, Holly Mackin-lay, Glenda Takie Yarboi, Jazz Brown, Rhianna Turkson, Lorna Kagema, Luke Harris.

Fine ArtsOne This term has seen the launch of the new addition to the 'Artsone Family'. Fine-Artsone is a new Saturday arts school for pupils in Key Stage 4. Since its start, GCSE students from year 10 and 11 have had a new opportunity to develop their skills in all things 'arty'! Currently there are 8 students in regular attend-ance but already, interest has been shown for additional Key Stage 3 and 5 sessions to be added! Since joining the Fine-Artsone team this year, we have made clay sculptures, Christmas baubles, large scale paintings and acrylic canvases as well as de-veloping all our skills in drawing, painting, modelling and photo-graphic techniques. Whilst having this excellent forum for crea-tivity, students have also been able to catch up with and extend current GCSE work. At this point in time we even have one Year 11 pupil who is developing his portfolio for A-Level Photography. Working in a relaxed setting is one of the most enjoyable experi-ences we have been able to be involved in this year.

Fine-Artsone is such an innovative and amazing environment to work in as well as enjoying a Saturday with close friends, like-minded people and good music! Although set up and run in Glenthorne, the club is open to all schools in Sutton and we would recommend anyone who loves art to attend.

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Experimental Film On Wednesday 16th November, year 13 Film Studies students went to the Tate Modern to watch Film by Tacita Dean. This is the current turbine hall exhibit and is an experi-mental film installation. The students have been studying experimental films this half term and have found them to provide a very different experience to conventional filmmaking. The films challenge the forms and conventions of mainstream filmmaking, and require a much more active and open-minded spectator to interpret meaning.

As part of their studies, the students will have the option to complete an experimental film for their coursework, which will be shown at the Media Showcase in April.

A Level Dance trips

This term the A ‘level dance pupils have been to see two fantastic dance performances at Sadlers Wells Theatre in support to their A level exami-nation.

The first piece they went to see was ‘ Desh’ by Akram Khan. This was a solo theatrical contem-porary and traditional Indian dance performance using high-tech multi-media, to give the impres-sion of travelling through the jungle and also in the busy streets of India.

It was a truly inspiring performance, as many of the group and not seen an hour long solo dance performance before.

The second show was by ‘Rambert Dance Com-pany’. The first piece performed was over 40 years old choreographed By Merce Cunning called ‘Rainforest’, a very technical performance that gave great insight into the time period of dance the group study at A2.

Year 10 BTEC Music trip The Year 10 BTEC class went to the O2 Arena for the PRS sponsored British Music Experience. Willingly accompanied by Mr Ingham and Mr Burrows, the pupils had the chance to learn about the development of popular and rock music of the 20th

and 21st centuries with a focus on the cultural and technological changes that went alongside it. The pupils also had the chance to play on top quality equipment and learn how to play seminal songs from videos of musical heroes. Many also enjoyed the dance zone where they got to dance the birdy song, amongst other gems, of course!

Year 12 Drama & Theatre Studies Trip On the 11th October, the Year 12 Drama & Theatre studies students went on a trip to the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith to see a production of Edward Bond’s ‘Saved’. The students were extremely im-pressed by the production and as part of their AS course they have written a comprehensive theatre review of the production taking into account the social, historical, political and cultural context of the production as well as the director’s intended impact. When the play was first performed it shocked audi-ences because of its content. Following this, the play was banned from being performed. However, the theme of social disenfranchisement is seen by Bond as extremely relevant to today and enough justifica-tion for a revival of the production. The production received excellent reviews from the National Press and the Year 12s were equally moved by the perfor-mances.

Year 7 Theatre Trip On the 18th October, the whole of the Year 7 went to the produc-tion of ‘I Have a Dream’ at the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon. The production focussed on two characters who were flung back in time to meet Martin Luther King. The two characters were lucky enough to be there at the time that Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech ‘I have a Dream’. The year 7s were exceptional-ly behaved and thoroughly enjoyed the production. After the per-formance, the whole year group took part in a practical workshop with two of the actors. They were able to create their own ‘I have a Dream’ speeches and some lucky students were able to perform them on the stage at the Polka.

Some quote from the students:

‘Going to the theatre was really amazing. It inspired me to be con-fident in my performances and I am looking forward to perform-ing in Hairspray’ Janaya 7N

‘It taught me more about Martin Luther King. The actors were also really confident on stage. It was great’ Matthew Anscombe 7N

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Splendid Theatre Production On Thursday 8th September, the renowned theatre company ‘Splendid’ performed their version of the classic Greek play ‘Medea’ to our Year 12 and 13 Drama and Theatre Studies students. ‘Splendid’ is a theatre in education company which creates chal-lenging and vibrant theatre for Young People. ‘Splendid’s’ new creative adaptation put the audi-ence at the heart of the performance, as a twenty-first century chorus presented a timeless tale of passion, betrayal and re-venge. The Year 12s and 13s thoroughly enjoyed the production. After the production, the Year 12s were treated to a workshop based on Berkoff whilst Year 13 looked at devising techniques with a focus on Brecht as a theatre practitioner. Year 13 were able to use the the techniques employed by ‘Splendid’ in their own devised pieces which were performed as part of their A2 course. It has been a tradition to invite ‘Splendid’ into GHS and the Drama department look forward to welcoming them again in the near future.

The rehearsals for the whole school production of ‘Hairspray’ are going extremely well. Mr Walsh and Mrs Withey are directing the pro-duction and have been working tirelessly along with Mr Ingham

(Musical Director) and Ms Thompson (Vocal Coach) who are leading the musical aspect. Ms Campbell Baker and Miss West have also led some of the dance rou-tines. Design and Technology department are busy creating Edna and Tracey’s 60s style dress and the Art Department are getting ready to build the set. The pro-duction is already looking in fantastic shape with over 100 students involved across many different areas. This year we have some students treading the boards for the first time. Dominique Bongo (Year 9) is already do-ing a fantastic job playing Seaweed, Shannon Aberdeen (Year 11) is playing Motormouth Maybelle and Conor Terry (Year 11) is playing the role of Spritzer. All three, although not performing in a school production before, are doing a stirling job. Over the Christmas holidays, the whole cast will be learning lines, buying costumes and gearing up for the production which is being performed four weeks after the Christmas break!

Year 13 Drama & Theatre Studies Performances

The Year 13 Drama & Theatre Studies students have completed their last for-mal Drama performance at School. As part of their A2 course, the students are required to devise an original piece of Drama based on a stimulus. The students did an exceptional job and rehearsed during lessons, in the October half term and after school. The students worked in a Brechtian style. Bertolt Brecht was an influential theatre practitioner of the 20th Century. His work encourages the audi-ence not to emotionally participate in a performance but to critically reflect and analyse. He uses theatre as a vehicle for change within society. All of the performances covered some hard

hitting issues including obesity, mental health, the pursuit of the perfect hu-man body, sex trafficking and domestic violence. All performances left the audi-ence with questions and enabled them to reflect upon the issues raised. The Drama department would like to con-gratulate the Year 13s on their excellent work.

Arts Careers Evening Thursday 22nd September 2011 Students in years 11 and 12 studying Art, Dance, Drama, Media and Music took part in workshops led by higher education institutions and arts practitioners. Arts students spent time with representatives from the Wimbledon School of Art and other practitioners. Drama received an audition workshop and had a talk from Anthony Fagan, a former pupil, now study-ing at Drama School. Dance were treated to an excellent workshop led by a practitioner who has extensive experience of performing in the West End. Media students worked with a freelance journalist who works for the music publication NME. Music students received a talk about the professional values musicians need if they are to work in the industry from a senior lecturer at ICMP. They also received a talk from David Grout, a former pupil, who has recently recorded and re-leased his own album. All students found the event to be very useful and inspiring for the future education and career plans.

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION WINNER!!!

All dressed up and somewhere to go

Congratulations to Ellie Child, Year 12 who won a Borough competition run by the London Borough of Sutton.

The exhibition was organised during Ar-chive Awareness Campaign Month (November 2011), which looks at the way people used to dress for work, leisure, sports, clubs and much more. The general public were asked to enter photographs showing people dressed up now which could be compared to the historic photo-graphs in the exhibition. We had 5 other entries from the school.

Ellie won the competition and got a video

camera!!

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We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!