Wonderful Arts Evening!
Despite the wind and rain of the ‘June Monsoon’ forcing us to hold our summer Creative Arts Evening inside, Wednesday’s creative showcase was a resounding success!
Parents, Carers, families and friends were treated to a plethora of artistic talents celebrated across all the arts: GCSE and A Level Art, Design Technology, Music, Drama, Poetry and Prose, and GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition. We were honoured to be joined for the evening by the Mayor of Epsom & Ewell, Cllr John Beckett, and the Mayoress, Mrs Alison Beckett.
Squeezed into the Street Kitchen, we enjoyed a huge range of musical items, including a glimpse of the upcoming whole school production, School of Rock. All the acts were of an outstanding quality, but the stand out performance for me was Nathan and the Soul Band’s rendition of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody’ by the Blues Brothers. The musical items were interspersed with poetry recitals from our Tony Cooper Poetry and Prose Award winners, who were later presented with their well-deserved awards by the Mayor.
Over in The Proctor Hall, we were treated to an overwhelming display of simply incredible artwork from our A Level Fine Art students, with many of the young artists on hand to explain their pieces. A firm favourite was Phoebe’s take on ‘Destructivism’, where guests were left totally stunned after watching a time-lapse video of Phoebe painting a most beautiful self-portrait...only to then completely destroy it!
Also in the Street Kitchen we had a display of GCSE artwork and the finished products from Design Technology A Level and GCSE students. Everything from a scaled model of a proposed new stand for Fulham Football Club, to bespoke furniture, was on display. The hours that go into these projects is truly astonishing; the students (and their teachers) should be immensely proud of their achievements.
Throughout the evening, we were treated to a seemingly endless supply of handmade canapés from the Year 10 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition students. The students researched and devised the canapés themselves, and tray after tray of interesting and attractive canapés made their way around the guests.
Our Prefects acted as guides during the evening, many for the first time since receiving their Prefect badges. They cut flowers, moved chairs, served refreshments and ensured that the evening went smoothly; and all with initiative, enthusiasm and a great deal of laughter! Our Student Leadership Team are a wonderful body of young people and it is so uplifting to be amongst them.
The evening’s entertainment was finished in the best possible way, with a superb performance by Kaleb and Seb of ‘Wake my Soul’ by Mumford and Sons. Following this, the Mayor said a few words, praising the “phenomenal” and “high calibre” of work on display. He thanked the Head Boy and Head Girl, Jack and Chantelle, for hosting himself and the Mayoress, and expressed how he looked forward to returning to Glyn School for Speech Night in December.
Mr Duffield closed the proceedings by thanking students and staff for all their hard work, citing how proud he was of their achievements. He thanked The Mayor and Mayoress for joining us for the evening, before students presented our Guests of Honour with tokens of appreciation for their visit.
Thank you to The Mayor and Mayoress, Glyn School families, Governors and guests who joined us for the evening to show support to our students. Thank you to the Premises Team, Student Leadership Team and Prefects for their help. Congratulations to each and every student who contributed to the evening; your hard work was deservedly recognised. Thank you to the staff who have supported our students throughout their courses and during this event, and a special thank you must go to our Publicity Officer, Marion Meadows, for organising this event to showcase our students’ creativity.
Mr Lightfoot, Assistant Headteacher
