This week has been a cultural extravaganza.
On Tuesday students were fortunate to visit Richmond Georgian Theatre as part of the Swaledale Festival. They watched a special production for schools of The Fairest Lady by the Weaver Ensemble. This new show was a retelling of the Pygmalion story with elegant Baroque dance, gorgeous period costumes and on-stage music by Rameau, Purcell, Eccles and Handel. Prior to the event we had not given too much away to year 8. For many it was their first real theatre experience and the content, location and context might have been a little overwhelming. How wrong could you be, they loved it and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. As ever they were also a credit to the school.
On Thursday ‘Kabantu’ came into school to deliver a music workshop to Yr 8 and our new BTEC Music students. They performed a number of pieces before concluding with an open Q & A session. Huge thanks to the Swaledale festival and everyone who has bought some music and drama into our lives this week.
Thursday also saw 60 Yr10 geographers hitting the Redcar beach for their field work trip. In the new GCSE fieldwork is vital for Paper 3- the practical geographical skills. In years gone by, the fieldwork was assessed through coursework, but with most coursework now replaced by exams it is even more important that students actively practice measuring, survey and sampling techniques. Being a high tide however, has meant that some errant students who left their workbooks on the beach may well not be able to retrieve them this weekend! Oh dear looks like they will have to fill them in again.
