Neatherd High Performs at The Playhouse Theatre, Norwich

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Dereham Neatherd High School - Neatherd High Performs at The Playhouse Theatre, Norwich

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Neatherd High performs at @NorwichPlay (Playhouse Theatre), in the National #ShakespeareSchoolsFestival (Long but brilliant post from Mrs Sanderson!) Students from Years 9 and 10 have been working on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” since June 2016. The culmination of their hard work paid off when, last night, 3rd November, they performed in front of a paying, public audience at the Playhouse Theatre in Norwich along with 3 other local schools. The students actually started the project when they were in Years 7 and 8. I asked all Key Stage 3 students to consider creating a performance of a shortened Shakespearean script. My intentions were partly to help them improve their understanding of Shakespeare’s language and to increase their ability to interpret and direct scripted drama. Also though, at the back of my mind, was the idea that our students should showcase their talents in the nationally acclaimed Shakespeare Schools’ Festival. Our first foray into Shakespeare’s world was a performance of As You Like It. Students performed as Year 7s and 8s in The Creative Arts Evening and as part of the opening celebrations for the school library – in the library itself. They went on to perform as Year 8s and 9s to an audience of friends and parents at Dereham Sixth Form College. After As You Like It, most of the cast were really “up for more!” so the application to take part in the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival was submitted, accepted and we were on our way! Rehearsals started in June 2016 and last night students’ efforts, time and energy really paid off. At the end of the night, one of the festival’s professional theatre directors gave feedback to the four schools who performed at the Playhouse. Comments on Neatherd’s “The Tempest” heaped praise on the cast because of their creative and energetic interpretation of the text, “that gripped the audience’s attention from start to finish.” Throughout the workshops and rehearsals at The Playhouse in the run up to the performance, directors and technicians for the festival expressed how impressed they were that our students had come up with so many ingenious and physical ways to interpret Shakespeare’s language, characters and story so that the text could be accessed on so many levels. They agreed that students are often put off from studying Shakespeare because there are so many weird words and there’s such a lot of listening to do! With our performance they said, “You could see and therefore understand what characters were talking about because the language was communicated and reinforced through movement. I had to confess to them that my role in the project largely consisted of me having to rein in students’ creativity as they had so many ideas that our maximum running time limit of 30 minutes could have easily run over to an hour to accommodate everything the cast wanted to do. Audience members commented after the show that they had liked the balance we had achieved through a mixture of beauty and grace in the performances of the four Ariels: Charlie Dickerson, Rebekka Hartley, Mia Johnson and Latasha Ward and knock-about comedy provided by Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban: Adam Littleproud, Amber Macey and George Rolland-Barry. The Ariels were supported by Elizabeth Vogel and Ellna Meachen as “wanna-be” Ariels and narrators. Moments of serious and sinister content were provided by Vincent Joisce, Louise Godin, William Rodwell and Amelia Morse as Antonio, Alonzo, Gonzalo and Sebastian who are consumed by grief, envy and a desire to kill! The love story between Ferdinand and Miranda was played beautifully but very much tongue in cheek by Pearl Williams-Elley and Sam Lockhart. Pearl and Sam also did the school proud with an on-the-day interview for local radio. Perhaps the hardest job of all fell to Charlie Dente who played the enigmatic magician Prospero whose character is often linked with William Shakespeare himself. Shakespeare wrote the play toward the end of his career as celebrity playwright and impresario so that, just as Shakespeare was bidding farewell to London and his theatrical career, so Prospero bids farewell to his island, his spirit companions and to his magical powers by destroying his spell book and magic staff: “This rough magic I here abjure . . . . . . . . . . I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book.” Charlie handled Prospero’s iconic speeches masterfully and carried the show to its conclusion as all but Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo set sail to leave the island. Neatherd students once again showed what amazing performers, choreographers and directors they are in their contribution to the festival. They thoroughly deserved the rapturous applause they received at the end of the night. Business as usual to day though as all members of the cast are involved in rehearsals for the school’s annual production and various musical functions! Acknowledgement and thanks are also due to Miss Costenbarder who joined our team in June as co-director and dialogue coach and to Miss Harris who helped and advised students with choreographic ideas for key moments in the action. Thanks also are due to the parents and staff who attended the show last night to support us and cheer the cast on! Sally Sanderson Director

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Professor John Shepherd visits Neatherd geography. This morning a group of 80 Year 10 and Year 11 geographers and scientists received a 45 minute talk from Professor John Shepherd about climate change. We were privileged to welcome Professor Shepherd to the school, who has a CBE for his work on oceanography and climate change and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society. The students experienced a thoroughly informative talk about the reasons why our climate is changing and the potential impacts these changes could have on our earth. Professor Shepherd stayed behind afterwards and spoke to some Year 11s individually and answered any of their questions.

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Huge thanks to everyone who attended and took part in our Raising Achievement Evening. We value the support of you as parents and carers for this group of young people starting their revision and exam season. Massive thank you to our fantastic former year 11 students for bravely talking to large numbers of people all evening. We hope you found it useful.

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Hallowe'en Bake-Off Tuesday night saw the return of the Bake Off competition with a Halloween theme. After much deliberation, the winning team was Cavell, who took first prize with their fantastic ‘eyeball chocolate cake’. The Judges were very impressed with their artistic talents. Please congratulate Mrs Coxon, Elsie, Lucie and Grace for their well deserved victory. The final standings were - 1. Cavell 2. Carter 3. Kett 4. Fry Commiserations to Miss Cordle and her Fry team who gambled with a graveyard themed cupcake selection. A special mention to Mrs Fitt, Mr Coleman and Dr Faulkner who has the very tough task of eating cakes and dishing out scores. The next Bake off competition will be help in December with a Christmas theme, there are already 3 teams on the waiting list and lots of pupils dying to get involved, so the format will be changed slightly to allow as many of the pupils to participate as possible. The dates will be announced closer to the time. If you would like to get involved as a nominated adult, judge or just a helping hand please give me an email. Thanks again to everyone who came, Mr Anderson SNAG & Food for Life Coordinator

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Your School - Dereham Neatherd High School - School Games

Neatherd awarded Bronze School Sports Mark 2015-16 for commitment to competitive sport, joining Reepham and Ormiston Victory locally on the Bronze award. Next aim is the Silver which is held by Taverham, and the Gold held by Wymondham College! http://ift.tt/2f1o0zq
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