THE ‘show must go on’ became the rally cry of a North-East school determined to celebrate Christmas in spite of new COVID restrictions that kept parents away.
Students at Darlington’s Beaumont Hill Academy, The Education Village’s school for children with additional needs, decided to press on with their annual Yuletide extravaganza without the audience of family and friends who, instead, were able to watch via the internet.
English teacher Mary Jeffery, who produces and directs the annual Christmas extravaganza, said the spectacle comprised excerpts from previous productions including The Polar Express and The Grinch. Students from Year 7 to post-16 had been rehearsing since September.
“We haven’t been able to stage a production for the past two years because of the pandemic but we were very keen to celebrate the achievements of the students in a Christmas production,” she said.
“Some students attend a drama club, others a dance group and one class learnt all their lines in just three weeks. We love performing in front of an audience but sadly this couldn’t happen but we hope everyone enjoys our video, including the staff dance.”
Beaumont Hill primary school teacher Annie Knight said each class had recorded a song with actions or signing and had videoed their own performances.
In a separate venture students from Beaumont Hill and their sister school Marchbank Free School, organised a Christmas fair turning classrooms into enterprising Santa’s workshops to produce an array of goodies, including decorations, for parents with a budget of £30 each.
COVID prevented the fair taking place in school so all 73 items were photographed and included in a catalogue which was sent home to families with order forms.
Executive headteacher Caroline Green said: “This has been a really successful venture. As well as being fun, students have enjoyed working to budgets, designed the goods, handling materials, calculating costs and profit margins and working in teams, many developing invaluable leadership skills.”
Staff also arranged a winter wonderland by transforming the performance hall where students enjoyed snowball fights, dancing and singing, a visit by Santa and festive tasty treats and games.
Parents were able to enjoy seasonal readings by pupils that were streamed on the school’s Facebook page. “They were absolutely brilliant,” said Ms Green.
As part of a rewards scheme, students got to go ice skating, visit the cinema, go bowling and attend the local panto thanks to Darlington Borough Council’s Move More campaign.