PERFORMING ARTS SUMMER SHOWCASE
Music, Drama and Dance all came together for a celebratory showcase at The Sixth Form College, Solihull last week, as the curtain came down on an outstanding year for the Performing Arts department.
Students studying A levels in Music, Dance, Drama & Theatre Studies and the BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts course, put on short performances to showcase their talents.
The Performing Arts students brought the house down with several hilarious excerpts from William Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors”, while the Drama students gave a short performance from August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie”.
There were three dance pieces entitled “A Broken Bond”, “Revelations” and Rosas Danst Rosas”, which saw group and pair dance choreographed.
Meanwhile, Music performances saw three students showing off their singing skills, with Ophelia Charles performing “Don’t Forget Me” from the musical “Smash”, Fiona Carter singing “Dream a Little Dream of Me” by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, and Chloe Houghton performing a piece of her own composition.
Diane Dodd, Curriculum Leader for Performing Arts, commented: “I was really proud to see all the different elements of the department come together for one show. So much hard work has gone on by both students and staff this year and performances like this are the fruits of our labour.
“We are waiting with baited breath to see the A level results for Drama, Dance and Music in August, but we already know the BTEC Performing Arts results and I’m delighted to say that every student achieved either a distinction or merit in the course. Three students also achieved triple distinction* (star) grades, which is the very highest mark that can be achieved. We are very proud of them.”
OLYMPIC TORCH BOOSTS SPORTS STUDENTS
Sports students at The Sixth Form College, Solihull got the chance to hold a real Olympic torch last week, thanks to the charity Breast Friends.
Lorraine Ashford, who has volunteered for Breast Friends for almost ten years, ran with the Olympic torch in Cardiff, thanks to her nomination from employers British Airways, and she brought the torch in for the students to see. They took time out of their coursework to hold the torch and talk to Lorraine.
It’s not the first time the College has worked with Breast Friends. A level Leisure Studies students organised a charity night earlier in the year to raise money for the charity and also acted as marshals for the Breast Friends Fun Run in September.
As well as their time with the torch, the students undertook an activity session on the same day for their BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport course. They were tasked with devising activities that school-aged children would enjoy and then they tried them out with fellow students in groups. They opted for an Olympic theme to the session and divided into four groups, with each group representing a country. Brazil, Italy, Spain, and of course, Great Britain were the teams involved.
Four 10-minute activities were set up and the students rotated round the Sports Hall, each getting a turn at every activity. The students who had devised each activity briefed and assessed their fellow students on the activities, which included a variety of sporting pursuits.
Basketball shooting was one of the sessions, with students invited to try to score using a variety of shooting styles. Indoor hockey was also featured, in which students had to aim for particular targets; this was made more difficult as participants were instructed to spin on the spot first, making them dizzy before their attempted a shot. Cones were set out for a long jump event, in which students tried to jump as far as they could from both a standing and running start. Lastly, football was incorporated into a session, which saw students dribbling the ball round cones and jumping over small obstacles before shooting at designated targets.
Claire Hicks, Assistant Curriculum Leader for Sport at the College, commented: “The session was a huge success and the students worked really hard to come up with activities that challenged each other, but which were also fun too. Everyone threw themselves into it and showed great team work.
“It was a great bonus to have Lorraine and her Olympic torch join us as well. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for all the students, so we thank Lorraine for giving up her time to come into College.”