Festival of House Spirit

On Thursday afternoon the end of the Spring Term was celebrated with a fantastic display of House Spirit, when all girls in Prep and Senior School participated in Inter-House Performing Arts. The event came at the end of a special House Day in which the whole community had come to school in House colour mufti and participated in a number of fundraising activities including: a tombola, clothing exchange, karaoke competition and sponge a student!

The annual Inter-House Performing Arts event is a brilliant opportunity for girls of all ages to join together and put on a fantastic show. This year the girls had been challenged to create a series of performances, incorporating their House colour. They each had to present a House song, an instrumental ensemble with dance accompaniment, and a Prep song.

First up were Hampden House whose colour is “blue”. Their first piece was an instrumental ensemble with dance accompaniment to “Shade of Blue” based on Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”. The Prep girls performed a rendition of “Part of your World” from Disney’s “Little Mermaid” and their final song, performed by the whole House, was based on “Someone like You”, by Adele.

Then it was the turn of Mandeville House (green) who started with an energetic rendition of “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson as their whole House song. Their Prep piece was “A Whole New World” from Disney’s “Aladdin” and for their instrumental ensemble piece the girls performed a “green” mash-up of songs by artists including Professor Green and Ceelo Green.

Milton (yellow) were next starting with their House song which was “All of Me” by John Legend, including a percussion accompaniment. They then treated the audience to a “yellow” mash-up based on “Yellow” by Coldplay, “Black and Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa and “Hello” by Adele. Milton ended their set with their Prep performance of “Reflection” from Disney’s “Mulan”.

Last but not least was Penn House (red) who began with their instrumental and dance performance to “Red” by Taylor Swift. Their Prep song was “Beauty and the Beast” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. They finished their offering with their House Song, “Sing” by Gary Barlow, which saw some members of the House performing the song in sign language.

Following the House performances the Upper Sixth put on a very special surprise performance of their own, dancing to a mash-up of a variety of songs!

Many congratulations to Penn House who were crowned as this year’s winners at the end of the afternoon, having impressed the judge, Mr Martin Hibbert (one of the school’s visiting Music teachers), with their harmonies and use of dynamics. Mr Hibbert commended the girls on their musicality and expression used throughout. He went on to congratulate the whole school for their participation, highlighting the huge levels of enthusiasm and commitment that came across in all their performances.