JAMMING AT THE PINEAPPLE CLUB

The Pineapple club is a radio project run by Leading Edge radio manager Jon Preston that invites senior members of the local West Indian community to come in and create their own radio show. Following on from their success last year the members of the Pineapple West Indian Luncheon club in Anerly have been in September and Christmas time and now this summer term to lay down their own mix of smooth Caribbean rhythms and interviews. Pineapple members work with some of the BRIT students to create the radio show from both in front and behind the microphone.

LITTLE BIG MENU PROVES A HUGE HIT!

Students from Saint Mary's Junior school have been into the BRIT school to work with Leading Edge radio manager Jon Preston and create their own show "The Little Big Menu". The aim of the project is to encourage an enduring interest in media and radio and develop teamwork amongst the children. The project has been running a number of years now at the school, each year bringing in year 6 students in their last year of Junior school to experience working in the BRIT radio studio.

Radio stars

St Joseph's school have been very happy with the impact of the Radio project on their year 9 & 10 students. Students from Saint Joseph's college in Beaulah Hill South East London have been working on a radio project with our Leading Edge radio manager Jon Preston through out terms 3 and 4 this year. The project has been created with the BRIT school and St Joseph's SENCO team to help engender positive involvement and learning amongst the students involved.

Instant Karma with Yellow Flowers

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On February 4th and 5th Year 10 students performed in a show about Tibet called Yellow Flowers. The show was a combination of work from year 10 Technology students, year 12 Technical Theatre students and the year 10 Theatre GCSE option students. The show aimed to highlight the continuing plight of the Tibetan people under Chinese occupation since the 1950's and subject to continuing imprisonment, torture and human rights abuses. The show included the screening of an interview with Tibetan dissident and singer Soname Yangcheng shot by the schools Film and digital arts team led by Ken McGill. The theme of the show was an adaptation of Tibetan folk tales by Theatre teachers Stuart Warden and Andrew Midgley. The set and costumes were designed and made by Year 10 Technology students as part of their Technical theatre studies for their BTEC Performing arts qualifications. The year 12 Technical Theatre students erected the set and provided lighting, sound and technical experience. It was an example of a typical project that the school has become very adept at where a number of different strands and years come to together to create a project on a cross curricular basis.

I'd like to be Under the sea.....

Children from the "Selhurst Early Learning Centre" visited the school on Thursday to see a special dance show put on especially for them. The show "Octopus's Garden" tells the story of Oscar, a little boy who jumps into a puddle and finds an undersea world where he can dance with the fishes in an Octopus's garden. A few weeks earlier in the term the year 10 dance strand students had accompanied the children, who are between 3 and 4 years old, to the Horniman's museum in south London to see the aquarium and learn about the undersea world and animals that live there. Now our dance students were performing their dances that they had choreographed for the children in costumes and a set made by year 10 performing arts students in their Technology lessons. The project was set up and run by leading edge managers Ganymeade Gnahoui and Chris Lewington.

A day at the Emirates

Members of the BRIT school Leading Edge team met up with representatives from some of our partner schools at the Achievement show staged at the Emirates stadium in north London. It was the perfect setting for consolidating plans and discussing new avenues to pursue for the year ahead. Staff from Hayling Manor, Capital and Shirley joined us for a day in an executive box at the Arsenals' gleaming new stadium. There were plenty of inspiring talks and the latest in educational technology to see in the show as well as time to talk with partner schools and continue to develop our partnerships in the year ahead.

Westminster students in for Workshops

Year 10 students from Westminster Academy in north London visited the school this morning. They had a tour of the school followed by workshops in dance, theatre and music. Westminster is a business and enterprise specialist school but they have a thriving performing arts department as well. Their performing arts teachers lead by Lucy Sands hoped that a day at the BRIT school would give their students added confidence in working with students their own age in their own specialist area. So our year 10 students worked side by side with their year 10 students in the workshops. "Our students really enjoyed themselves especially participating in the subject lessons" said Lucy. "Many students commented on how nervous they were about participating in the classes and thought they would not be able to cope with the work, but taking part in the lessons made them realize they could cope really well. Thank you to all the teachers and students who lead the classes they made our students feel really welcome. The trip has had a very positive effect on their confidence". . Before they went home our year 10 Musical Theatre students gave them a short performance of some of their numbers from "Hair" which they had performed as a whole show as part of their BTEC last term.