Music lovers enjoyed four nights of diverse entertainment when Springwood High School in King’s Lynn hosted this year’s West Norfolk Academies Trust Community Music Festival.

The popular annual event was taking place for the fourth time, and saw performers from our school join others from across the Trust, alongside a host of other music groups from across the region.

“Suffice to say we had a real mix of younger WNAT ensembles, alongside more experienced ensembles and professional musicians,” said Robin Norman, Director of Music at WNAT and organiser of the event. “There was a real mix of different styles and ages, with performers from all schools across the WNAT family, along with other community ensembles.

“There was, without doubt, something for everyone, with a wonderful range of instrumental and vocal ensembles.”

Besides Springwood, the participating Trust high schools comprised Marshland in West Walton, St Clement’s in Terrington St Clement, and Smithdon in Hunstanton, while member primaries taking part included Clenchwarton, Gaywood, Heacham Infant, Heacham Junior, Snettisham, Walpole Cross Keys, and West Lynn.

“Across the four nights, there were in excess of 500 performers from across all year groups from Reception through to Year 13,” explained Mr Norman. “These were spread across all the schools in the West Norfolk Academies Trust and beyond.

“Students from all WNAT schools were involved. However, we were also joined by community music groups including the West Norfolk Music Centre, West Norfolk Winds, and others – a real showcase of all the different types of music from across West Norfolk.”

Among the performers were musicians from the Trust’s Musical Instrumental Tuition Initiative (MITI) Programme, including a String Ensemble, a Wind Band, and individual piano and percussion students.

More than 900 people attended the Community Music Festival, which culminated in the WNAT Choral Spectacular, featuring choirs from all the Trust’s schools, along with special guest St Martha’s – a total of around 250 students, aged five to 18.

“The students of all ages coming together is a unique experience,” continued Mr Norman. “There is an overarching sense of camaraderie, and, whatever the age, the students joke, and laugh, and just enjoy making music together.

“There was a wide range of pieces on offer, from musical theatre to classic pop to rock. However, the highlight had to be the grand finale when all the children joined together to perform ‘This is Me’ from The Greatest Showman.”

“For the young people in our schools, this now-annual event is important in so many ways,” added Mr Norman. “The professional-level stage is just one aspect of this, as all performers have the joy of performing in front of appreciative audiences on equipment of such a high level.

“However, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as you cannot measure the good a series of events like this does on inspiring future musicians, who, in some cases, will be hearing advanced performances for the first time.

“This gives them the opportunity to perform and work with a whole range of musicians. This is something you cannot really measure as both an inspirational and aspirational tool.”

Young book lovers at Gaywood Primary have raised more than £100 to promote reading among their classmates.

Our pupils held a second-hand book sale on Wednesday 18 June, with all money raised going to buy equipment to enable outdoor reading at the school in sunnier weather.

“The book sale took place during breaktime on the school playground, and was led by the Reading Leaders,” explained Chloe Sneath, English Lead at Gaywood, which is part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust.

“The school Reading Leaders are children from Years 3 to 6,” she continued. “There are a total of nine Reading Leaders who applied to become Reading Leaders at the start of the year. They have aimed to promote a love of reading throughout the school.

“We created a message to parents to ask them to bring in donations. The children also delivered a whole-school assembly to share the aim of the book sale with the other children, which was to raise money to purchase picnic blankets, beanbags, and outdoor books – all to help pupils enjoy reading in the sunshine during the warmer months.”

Books donated ranged from fiction and non-fiction to poetry and comic books, and the sale continued after school to enable friends and family to buy books for younger siblings and other family members.

Across the two sessions, the children sold more than 200 ‘pre-loved’ books, and made an impressive total of £101.50 for their cause.

“These events are important for promoting a love of reading among children and within the community,” added Mrs Sneath.

“They give children access to a wide range of new literature, while also being environmentally friendly by encouraging the sharing of second-hand books.”

Children at Gaywood Primary enjoyed a taste of different cultures from the comfort of their own classrooms when they took part in ‘Around the World Day’ on Friday 23 May.

Pupils of all ages celebrated a diverse selection of countries from across the Globe, exploring their customs, taking part in themed activities, and even sampling the cuisine.

“We thought that it would be nice if each year group had a different country and focused solely on that,” said Melissa Grief, Year 2 Teacher at our school, which is a member of the West Norfolk Academies Trust.

 “It meant that we then had six countries to focus on and create some engaging activities based around them.”

Reception pupils looked at South Africa; while Year 1 studied Mauritius; Year 2 ‘visited’ Spain; Year 3 celebrated India; Year 4 spent the day ‘in’ Japan; Year 5 ‘went to’ Greece; and Year 6 explored New Zealand.

“The children took part in a range of activities, such as food tasting, learning the language, writing fact files, and creating postcards,” continued Miss Grief, who organised the event with fellow Year 2 Teacher Eden Bloomfield.

“The children were dressed in colours of the flag of their year group’s country, and the classrooms were decorated with flags, and food brought in.

“In Year 2, we learnt some basic phrases in Spanish and learnt numbers to ten. Years 3 and 4 did the same – learning Indian and Japanese phrases and numbers. Year 4 also explored how to write Japanese words and numbers too. They also learnt how to eat with chopsticks.

“Examples of food tasting we did were: churros for Spain, naan bread for India, fruit tasting for South Africa, and tzatziki dips for Greece.”

We are currently working towards a British Council International School Award, and the Around the World event formed part of the application.

“The British Council International Award is an award given to schools to celebrate and give accreditation to work they are doing internationally, learning a bit more about the global society they are part of,” explained Miss Grief, who is spearheading the process with Miss Bloomfield.

“We have to submit one activity for the Foundation Award which shows we are celebrating other countries and learning about them, relating to the curriculum. Therefore, we decided to do an ‘Around the World' enrichment day to cover this across the school.

“We can then gather evidence from all the activities that have taken place and submit this for the award.”

“The Around the World Day events were important as they increased our pupils’ knowledge on other countries and allowed them to talk about their own personal experiences of that country too,” she added.

“One of our school values is ‘diversity’, and we talk about the importance of celebrating other countries a lot. It is important for us as a school to continue to enrich our children’s knowledge regularly on other countries, so they have a good awareness of our global society.

“It would mean a lot for our school to receive the Foundation Award. We can then work towards hopefully achieving the other awards, such as Intermediate and Accreditation."

A budding writer from Gaywood Primary was celebrating after her creative talents saw her poem ‘Wonderful Water’ win third place in a regional writing contest.

Isla Thompson, who is in Year 4, beat off competition from more than 100 pupils from ten schools in the region to become one of the winners of this year’s Rotary Young Writer.

“The children had to produce a handwritten or typed piece of writing in a genre of their choice, entitled ‘Wonderful Water’, which was this year’s theme,” explained Chloe Sneath, Year 4 Teacher at our school, which is part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust.

“The written entry could be fiction or non-fiction, as long as the piece related to the theme.”

“I introduced the theme of the writing, and shared the competition rules with the children about what their entries could be,” she continued.

“We discussed the different ideas that the children had for their writing, before they completed their writing independently at home.

“This year’s theme encouraged them to think outside the box, while the freedom to choose their own genre allowed each child to explore and refine their individual writing style.”

The entries were judged by a Rotary Club Panel, and Rotarian Hilary Farrell then visited Gaywood to award certificates to all the Year 4 pupils who took part, as well as to present Isla with her prize of a gift voucher.

“I feel proud and happy about how well I did in the competition,” said our young poet. “Poetry is my favourite kind of writing.”

“These competitions play a valuable role in giving children the opportunity to showcase their creativity through writing,” added Mrs Sneath. “They provide a platform for young writers to flourish and express their unique talents.

“The excitement amongst the children was clear – they were thrilled to be involved and to have this chance to shine.

“Participating in the competition sparked genuine engagement with their writing, helping them develop a vital life skill.”

Literary debate was the order of the day when pupils from our school came together with others from across the West Norfolk Academies Trust to mark this year’s World Book Day.

The annual WNAT Primary Literary Event took place at the King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, where Year 5 children from the Trust’s six primary schools gave group presentations on book-related subjects.

“Teams of three pupils were asked to speak for five minutes,” explained event organiser Emma Hunt, Executive Deputy Headteacher at Heacham Infant and Junior Schools and Snettisham Primary.

“The first pupil introduced the speaker, to provide the audience with a little background; the main speaker then had approximately three minutes to deliver their views on the team’s chosen topic; the final team member then delivered the vote of thanks.”

Participating schools were: Clenchwarton, Gaywood, Heacham Junior, Snettisham, Walpole Cross Keys, and West Lynn; while subjects under discussion included the pros and cons of online learning, whether reading different genres contributes to social and emotional development, whether reading a book is better than watching a film, and whether characters influence the enjoyment of a book.

It was the fifth time that the event had taken place, and it was attended by an audience of pupils, staff members and trustees, as well as the CEO and Deputy CEO of WNAT.

All the speakers received certificates and goodie bags for taking part.

“The event provides an opportunity for pupils to develop their presentation skills, teaching them how to arrange and articulate their ideas and organise their thoughts, to deliver captivating presentations to an audience,” added Mrs Hunt.

“Utilising the skill to speak effectively at a young age, enables them to express their views in a balanced way, connecting with and motivating others. These skills are useful in formal situations, and will no doubt support future employment. They are also important in everyday life.”

Young musicians and singers from our school joined others from across the West Norfolk Academies Trust for the annual WNAT Community Carol Service.