Radio Castle Debut

What an exciting morning! A huge thank you to Radio Castle for giving us the opportunity to be DJs for the morning.

If you didn't catch our show, you can catch up by visiting www.radiocastle.co.uk and choosing Listen Again. The kids were fantastic, but I think these comments, from a parent and another of the station's DJs say it best:

"Please can you pass on many congratulations to all three classes for the best hour of radio I have heard in a long time. I cried, I laughed and I danced! What more could anyone ask for? It was brilliant so please pass on a big "well done" and "thank you" to all of the children, and the staff of course!!

Caroline Smith"

"I am part of the team at Radio Castle and have been listening to the show the children put together that was broadcast this morning. 

I felt I had to write to say what a great job the kids and staff did putting this show together and the clarity and confidence they showed delivering. It was a great and varied programme too - they are a credit to the school and I do hope it can become a regular thing. 

Well done everyone 

Dave Mann"

Debut Radio Broadcast - Listen Live Today at 11:00

Don't forget to listen in to our debut radio broadcast today between 11:00 and 12:00 on Radio Castle. You can listen live from anywhere in the world via their streaming service. Simply visit www.radiocastle.co.uk and click Listen Live. Alternatively you can catch the broadcast later with their Listen Again service. The children will be bringing you performances of their poetry and a collection of their favourite music tracks, introduced by six different DJs throughout the hour. Please tune in and support us!

Talent Show

On Wednesday afternoon we held our annual talent show. The children signed up to perform and shared a wide variety of interesting talents, from playing guitar and drums, to gymnastics and singing. There were sketches and comedy acts and performance poetry, and of course the usual slapstick falling-on-the-floor routine...

Well done to you all for taking part. X-Factor here you come!

Christmas Carol Service

On Monday we held our traditional carol service in St Mary's Church. The children gave readings of the Christmas story, while children in red class formed a nativity tableau. We enjoyed performances from soloists, a recorder duet, and group carols and songs. It was a fantastic evening, and the church was packed as always. The service was followed by mulled wine (for the adults) and mince pies back in the school hall. Thanks to the PTFA for organising this. 

Well done to all the children. You gave amazing performances and sounded beautiful. We are very proud of you all.

Heroes of Troy

In the two days before the last day of term, we held our annual school production. This year, to fit with our school topic on Ancient Greece, we performed the BBC musical Heroes of Troy.

It was received very well by the three audiences who came to watch. In case you didn't get a chance to see it, or, for the children, to see what it looked like from the audience's perspective, please enjoy looking at the photographs. There are some from rehearsals, some from the dress rehearsal and some from the performance, as well as a few behind-the-scenes shots.

Thanks to Simon Garrett for the photos of the performance, and Mrs Exton for the backstage shots!

Piano and Recorder Concert

On Monday, the children who have been learning Piano and Recorder took the stage and performed in front of an audience of parents and peers.

It was a beautiful concert, and quite an emotional one, as siblings performed duets together. Thank you to Alice, their teacher, for organising the concert and all your hard work leading up to it.

Hitting the Headlines (Mardles - East Anglia's Folk Magazine)

Following our Folk Music Workshop last term, Mardles, East Anglia's Folk Magazine, have published a lovely article about the afternoon in their February-April 2014 edition. We even made the cover!

The cover and article are shown below. Copies of Mardles are available at a cost of £1.50 from Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket if you would like your own copy to keep.

The Falconer

Following our recent folk workshop, the children wrote a melody to accompany a local poem called The Falconer. They learnt to sing their masterpiece and we have recorded it for your listening pleasure. We hope you enjoy listening to their work.

A Feast of East Anglian Folk Music

This afternoon Green Class was joined by Mary Humphreys and David Dolby of Suffolk Folk, who entertained and educated us with a selection of folk songs and music.

We began by learning about the different types of folk song: songs that tell a story; songs with a refrain; and songs with a chorus. The children listened beautifully and joined in with the refrains and choruses.

After a short break, we were taught an OXO reel. This 32-bar dance got everyone up and moving and, despite some of us finding it tricky to coordinate our limbs, we all had a fantastic time trying, as can be seen in the photographs below.

A Musical Liaison

Yesterday we were delighted to welcome year ten and twelve students from Thomas Mills High School, along with their music teachers, Miss Scott and Mr Handley, to our school. They treated us to some sensational performances, from Jazz ensembles to Metallica, violin duets to solo singing and even some simply astounding magic tricks.

We finished the afternoon with a joint performance of the song This is Our World, which was delivered with feeling and great gusto.

The afternoon certainly inspired our pupils, with one year six girl telling me this morning that she wants to learn violin and saxophone when she starts High School next year. A big thank you to all the pupils who gave up their time to visit us, and to Miss Scott and Mr Handley for all the hard work behind the scenes preparing and organising the event.

'Waiting for Christmas' - Recording Session

 

  This afternoon, 38 of our Key Stage 2 children spent 4 hours recording songs and videos for the 'Waiting for Christmas' project. The children joined many others from local primary schools for a fantastic afternoon of singing, led by such enthusiastic organisers. The children have been learning the lyrics since September, so this was a chance for them to show how much they'd learnt...

 From the recordings, a CD and DVD will produced, which should be available during late November. The project culminates with a live evening performance at the Spa Pavilion, Felixstowe, during the week beginning 2nd December - based on today, it should be marvellous.

I'd like to thank the parents for their support of this project and also complement all of the children on their behaviour during a very long and tiring afternoon.

The project is aiming to raise over £50,000 to to enable Tearfund to undertake projects, supporting families, all over the world. Some of the key aims of the 2012 project are:
• To provide a creative focus of resources for schools leading up to Christmas
• To provide a unifying project for children at primary/junior schools in the area
• To raise awareness of issues of poverty and injustice
• To raise money for charity, particularly for third world children through Tearfund
• To help convey the message of Christmas in a fun way

Year Five Concert at Thomas Mills

Yesterday evening, after several weeks of hard work, ten pupils in year five joined their peers from Wickham Market, Charsfield, Dennington and Sir Robert Hitcham (Framlingham) for a short concert to celebrate the Olympics in London. The children were joined by a selection of the Thomas Mills Orchestra and the Chamber Choir. It was a lovely evening, which I am sure those of you who were there will agree was a lot of fun. If you couldn't make it along to watch the concert, I hope you will enjoy listening to the recordings I made.

You can find them by following this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wt8rvqsi398qicy/SoSpOc2FnO where the files can be downloaded for playing on your computer. Feel free to forward the link to friends and relatives who missed it.

African Drumming: The Performance

This morning we gave a performance of the African Drumming piece we have been learning. Unfortunately we cannot display the video online, but we are able to provide an audio track in case you were unable to be at the performance. If you would like to watch the video, please speak to Mr Mansell. 

Many thanks to Mrs Livermore for her excellent tuition over the last five weeks. We feel privileged to have taken part in this and hope to see her back again next year.

African Drumming Lessons

For the last two Fridays, Blue Class have been having African Drumming Lessons. Mrs Livermore, who works for County Music Service, will be working with us this half-term to learn to play the djembe and dun dun drums, and a range of African hand-percussion.

Our first two sessions have been excellent, and I for one am very impressed at what the children have achieved in such a short space of time. Here are some pictures and a short video to give you a taste of what we got up to in our lessons.

Talent Show

On Tuesday afternoon, the children took their seats for the big event of the year: the Talent Show. On offer this year were a range of talents - singing and dancing, playing instruments, comedy, impressions and even a Zumba Fitness workout routine.

Below are some of the highlights of the afternoon.

Piano Recitals

"We Three Kings"

The Pink Panther Theme Tune

Theme from The Piano

Instrumental Pieces

"I Predict a Riot" by The Kaiser Chiefs

"Talking About a Revolution"

"Granite"

Dance

Smooth Criminal

Zumba Fever

Singing

"Jingle Bells" in Latvian!

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

And finally, with the winning entry...

"The Ash Grove"

On the Christmas Carol Service, My True Love Gave to Me...

400 Posts!

Yes, this is our 400th Blog post, and what better way to mark the occasion than by sharing with you the best bits of our school carol service.

We begin with a beautiful rendition of Away in a Manger, with the first verse sung by Red Class, and all classes singing verses 2 and 3.

Next is the heart-warming, if rather high, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, sung by the whole congregation.

This is followed by two songs from the School Choir: Snow Song and White Christmas.

I would like to post the Staff Choir's 12 Pains of Christmas here too, but don't have any photographs. If you happened to take a shot or two, please email them to me at jamesmansell@earlsoham.suffolk.sch.uk and I will add them to the blog.

Since this post is a rather special milestone, we would really like it if you could take a moment to leave us a comment and let us know what you think of our blog. Whether you have commented before, or are completely new to it, we would love to hear what you thought of the carol service (if you were there), or what you like most about our school blog. It's really easy to leave a comment - just visit the blog and click the comment button. You can leave a post anonymously, or sign in and leave your name.

Bassistry Arts Workshop

This afternoon the children were treated to an excellent music workshop from the very talented duo of Marcel and Phillipe from Bassistry Arts.

The children had a great time learning different rhythm patterns and performing alongside the drums and bass guitar. They learnt some fantastic songs and great dance moves as can be seen in the video!

It's a part of our history,
It's deep down inside of me.
May not speak the same,
May not look the same,
May not know your name,
But we all want to DANCE!

We hope you enjoy looking through some of the photographs below. As always, the full collection of images can be found in our Picasa Webalbum.

Jeremiah "2" the Misty Mountains

With only a day to go before the 'big day' I thought you might like a bit of a teaser trailer. Here are some photos taken during rehearsals to whet your appetites.

Talent Show 2010

The annual Earl Soham Talent Show saw the term out in style today, with some fantastic acts, including singing, dancing, instrumental performances and drama. 

We hope you enjoy this selection of highlights.

Christmas Carol Service

The Christmas Carol Service was a great success, the church bursting at the seams with people and a  wonderful feeling of Christmas. Here are some of the highlights:

Thank you to Mr Perry for providing a copy of the Choir video.