Valentine’s Day saw the school buzzing with excitement as the annual Inter-Patrol Music Competition got under way, with about 250 individual performances taking place throughout the morning! It is always lovely to hear the Year 3s playing their recorders, in what is the culmination of nearly two years of learning and practice. Elsewhere around the school, there was everything from the Beatles to Bach, with adjudicators having the unenviable task of choosing the winners. The Millennium Hall saw some fantastic performances in the Advanced Classes, adjudicated by Jonathan Ling, once a music teacher at Westbourne House and now Director of Music at Christ College, Brecon. The much-anticipated Open Class, for musicians of Grade V standard and above was extremely varied and very impressive, with the overall winner, Francesca Aston (violin) performing Perlman’s Hora Hatikva with much panache.
At the end of the morning of individual performances, the Otters were sitting one point ahead of the Owls in the patrol competition with the Tigers and Panthers trailing behind, but with everything still to play for. And so to the evening competition, where various members of each patrol performed together in various instrumental ensembles. It was a clean sweep for Tigers here, with some impressive performances from across the year groups. The singing competition which followed was immensely enjoyable, with the children smiling their way through their performances of Summer Nights from Grease, and You’re the Top from Anything Goes. The Panthers were the hot favourites following several years in pole position, but it was the Otters that triumphed this year, with a polished and entertaining performance.
Well done to all those pupils who took part on their various instruments, and to everyone for some wonderful performances in the evening. The winning patrol, with a final score of 228, were the Otters. Congratulations to them!
