With the meaning of Christmas changing for everyone as they get older, our new Head of Prep Drama Mrs Brown worked with our prep students to put together this year's Prep Christmas Show 'What Christmas Means to Me'.
After several discussions amongst the staff, Mrs Brown was keen to put something together that all children could relate to. She came together with each year group (from Years 3-6) to navigate ideas that would not only be performed by them, but for them as well. Year 3 devised their own performances in Drama sessions to show what Christmas meant to them, which eventually came to the subject of snow and snowfall. This also served as wonderful inspiration for the choreography of their piece. Year 4 embraced the vibe of the build-up to Christmas with Year 5 enjoying the aspect of giving to others. They even set up a 'Secret Santa' within their Form which came off the back of the discussion about the Show. One Year 6 group came up with broader ideas that focused more on giving rather than receiving, with the other team enjoying reminiscing about their younger years. This resulted in a performance of a nativity going wrong, almost in the style of 'The Play That Goes Wrong' and a performance about giving to the community.
Each year group also made sure their scenes had something included for our students that didn't celebrate Christmas but another type of occasion, for example Diwali or Hanukkah.
With this being her first show at Pipers, Mrs Brown says: "It was the most fun I've ever had putting together a Christmas Show. The team of people here have been incredible throughout. I've been really inspired by the bright ideas from the students and I'm already thinking about the next one!" She also gave glowing feedback about Ruby H in Year 13, who worked closely with the children on choreography for their dance numbers.
The Prep Christmas Show was performed on Thursday 12 December to a packed audience in our Arts Centre Theatre. You can see photographs from the performance in the Flickr album below.