A dramatic day at Leckford

Another year; another Drama competition. This annual event, where each English group selects and performs part of a text that they have studied during the year, was a celebration of enthusiasm and team effort. The presentations included excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Animal Farm, Much Ado about Nothing, Pygmalion, The Importance of being Earnest, A View from the Bridge and a play called Orphans, which started with a speech by Pip from Great Expectations.

As you can see, we were treated to a wide range of material. The pupils rose to the occasion.

With only two weeks of English lessons devoted to perfecting their performances, the students worked hard, deciding on their roles, learning lines and creating props. We were lucky to secure the services of two members of the Creation Theatre Company: Connor McReynolds came to give valuable advice on performance, during the dress rehearsals, and Jessica Bridge judged the competition, giving detailed and most encouraging comments in her adjudication.

The winners were a year 10 group, who performed a couple of extracts from Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge – a text they studied for GCSE coursework. Particularly memorable were the performances of Will Cronk as Eddie, the troubled Brooklyn longshoreman; his almost too realistic fight with Rodolpho (aka Humza); Vinay Bahl’s demonstration of physical dominance as he lifted a chair with one hand, from the base of one leg (try it – it’s far more difficult than it seems) and really convincing performances from the rest of the cast.


The winner of the contemporary presentation was a year 8 group, who performed their own version of Animal Farm. Although based largely on the novel, they added a contemporary touch of dance, music and humour. The overall effect, however, was extremely chilling and gave a real insight into the dangers of the abuse of political power.

Both year 7 groups won the Shakespeare award for their lovely interpretations of different sections of The Dream. The judge was very impressed by the understanding which under-pinned the delivery of quite difficult lines. They also conveyed the humour of the play.


There were many other individual commendations and prizes, but the biggest reward was a day of real entertainment and enrichment.


Watch a slideshow of photos from the day on Flickr

The Summer Soiree: baroque, britpop, showtunes, puppetry...

Towards the end of term, a thronged Leckford Place hall was treated to the jamboree of performing arts that is the Summer Soiree.

Guitar, recorder, euphonium, viola … Leckford’s instrumentalists showed off their skills – and the range of genres was similarly eclectic: from baroque to britpop, soul to showtunes. Many of the musical performances were clearly pupil-led – testament to the fertile school music scene.


And what a variety of voices! Whether it was Lydia Hassan’s captivatingly pared-down delivery of her own song, Skinny Jeans, Tal Fineman’s assured cover-versions of classic rock numbers, or Flora McGivan’s strikingly intense performance of All That Jazz, it was a pleasure to hear so many different styles and interpretations.

The whole evening was shot through with doses of comic surrealism, meanwhile, thanks to a series of year 9 performances – imaginative pieces that demonstrated the expressive possibilities of puppetry.


For a further flavour of the evening's entertainment, watch our slideshow, or browse the photos on Flickr.

Students gain an insight into potential future careers

We held another very successful Careers Advice Evening on 30 June for Years 9 and 10.

Nine parents very kindly gave up their time to come and talk about their careers – from Business Architect to Lecturer, Physician to Lawyer, a wide variety of roles and sectors was covered.

The event certainly gave the students plenty to think about for the future – and, with such an enterprising group of parents, it is little wonder that we have such talented children!

End of term Lasertag

On the last Monday of term Oliver and Anne organised for the male staff to take 67 boys up to the woods in Culham to play Lasertag. As you can imagine, this trip was taken very seriously indeed by both staff and pupils alike!

Split into two teams, we crawled through the woods with our laser rifles and snipers, trying to pick off members of the opposing team. Unfortunately the Camou team proved much more proficient at this than the Desert team, ably assisted by Paul and Martin, and a terrible massacre ensued in a range of different missions.

Clearly some of the boys had considerable experience under their belts already!

Fortunately there were no lasting injuries and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Mark. We even found time to do some useful team building exercises and no doubt we will be back...