The talented youngsters beat off stiff competition to win a coveted place in the National Festival of Music for Youth, and perform at some of the UK’s most iconic music venues.

Our  students joined hundreds of other musical groups to participate in a Regional Music Festival in March, after which they were invited to take part in the National Festival, which was held at four different venues  in Birmingham across 8 and 9 July.

Aged between 12 and 19, our musicians performed in three different groups, each playing a different genre of music. 

Our Director of Music, Robin Norman, said: “The Segno, a piano duet featuring two Year 11 students, performed at the National Festival’s Gala Concert in Birmingham Town Hall, before The Kingsmen, our male voice choir, returned to the Town Hall on Saturday morning. Our involvement in the weekend then came to a close on Saturday evening with our well known Concert Band performing in the iconic Symphony Hall, still considered to be one of the greatest concert halls in the world.”

The groups’ chosen music was equally varied, he added, from The Segno’s version of ‘Inspector Gadget’ to The Kingsmen’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’, while the Concert Band performed an original piece called ‘Unsung Heroes’, which had been composed by Neil Quinn, one of our music teachers.

“Given the amount of groups that took part in the Regional Festivals, we are absolutely thrilled to have had three different groups invited and from such disparate music genres,” Mr Norman continued. “The school has had groups invited before, but this is the first time that three have been invited in one year – a true testament to the work of the young people.”

Our school is a member of the West Norfolk Academies Trust, which strongly supports and encourages its musical students, holding an annual Community Music Week that this year took place immediately before the National Music Festival.