COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
December 2024
Our annual Countdown to Christmas event took place on Monday 9th December with over 230 students from Years 4-13 involved in the performances, and compared by our wonderful student hosts, Dylan H and Toby L in Year 12.
This is the highlight of the winter calendar, and once again, we were treated to an exceptional display of talent with beautiful readings and high-quality performances from our choirs, bands, instrumental groups, chamber groups and orchestra, in addition to our Year 7 drama group performing different Christmas characters throughout the evening. The PTA kept the audience refreshed throughout the evening with festive treats of mulled wine and mince pies.
The evening started with a bang with a performance of ‘Uptown Funk’ from our Samba band ‘Drumline’ followed by a warm welcome from Father Alex Crawford and a stunning solo of ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter’ by Year 7 student Joscelyn C in the first congregational carol.
We were joined by our local primary schools to perform ‘Step into Christmas’, accompanied by our Jazz band, to make this a truly special, festive community concert and another ‘standing room only’ event in the church which accommodates several hundred people.
The standard of all performances was outstanding, but what was most impressive was the sheer number of students sharing a love of music making, performance and acting across all year groups. Moorfield primary delighted us with a fantastic performance of ‘On a Starlit Night’ and the talented Murphy sisters Alice in Year 9, Jessica in Year 7 and Lucy joining us from Menston primary school sang “One Night One Moment” beautifully in harmony. We had a phenomenal performance from our a cappella vocal group ‘Lyrical’ who sang their own arrangement of ‘Walking in the Air’ from The Snowman.
As well as our incredibly talented younger students, a number of our Year 13 students, after many Christmas concerts, sadly performed for the last time. Thank you and well done to those Year 13 students in the Jazz Band, Orchestra, Chamber Group, accompanying other students and the festive duet from Ted P and Emma C. Thankfully, we have a few more concerts with them before we have to say a final goodbye.
A huge well done to all of our fantastic performers, from stunning solos and duets to outstanding performances in all our vocal, instrumental and drama groups.
Some words from our audience members and our primary schools:
"Firstly I wanted to say a huge thank you to you and the rest of the music faculty for a great concert last night. We thoroughly enjoyed it and got us all in the festive spirit."
"What an amazing evening it was last night, genuinely blown away by our totally talented students. Thank you to all of you for bringing out the best in our wonderful students."
"It was the best yet. Congratulations to all involved- what incredible talent"
“Thank you again for allowing us to join your concert last night. The children loved it and we've had lots of parent feedback this morning saying how lovely it was too”.
