This week I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Young Voices 2025 concert at Wembley Arena.
We were amongst just over 4,800 children on the day from schools around the country as part of, what Young Voices called the largest Children’s Choir in the World! It really was an absolutely incredible event and something our children will always remember. The choir performed alongside well known singers and dancers (who perform nationally and internationally) in one of the UK’s best venues. It was a long day, but as ever Sunninghill children were beautifully behaved and made all of our staff incredibly proud. My thanks must go to all these staff who accompanied us on the trip, to all those parents who were able to come along and support us – but particularly to Mrs Nolan-Stone who organised this trip. Thank you to you all.
Singing in a choir is so important for our school children – apart from the obvious fun involved in being part of something like Young Voices, research suggests that singing in a choir can improve mental wellbeing and bring a significant increase in qualities conducive to learning and development such as good memory, improved homework habits, higher levels of creativity, improved teamwork and advanced social skills.
We are excited for next year!
Whilst the Sunninghill choirs were at Wembley Arena, at the Young Voices 2025 concert, some of our Seniors were having fun in science with Mrs Evans making some slime whilst looking at what a polymer is. As you can see they had a great, if a little messy, time!
Forms 5 and 6 enjoyed a theatre trip on Friday to see the stage adaptation of Floella Benjamin’s ‘Coming to England’ at the Lighthouse in Poole. This inspiring production narrates the journey of a young girl from Trinidad to England, highlighting themes of resilience, racism, prejudice and determination.
This performance offered a wonderful opportunity for cross-curricular work in humanities and PSHE, enriching our students’ understanding of historical and social themes. It really was both an educational and enjoyable experience for our children.
It was all things Valentine’s on Friday! Kerry made some a delicious pudding, decorated with hearts, and did Valentine’s baking in enrichment with junior prep, Miss Glover and our School Council held their Valentine’s cookie sale to raise money for Wessex Cancer Support and Clara even sported the most fabulous Valentine’s hairstyle!
Thank you parents for helping us to celebrate reading by supporting our Scholastic School Book Fair last week. The Book Fair opened to students on Wednesday 5th February, to discover the amazing collection of books, including award winners, newly released titles and bestsellers. There was a lot of excitement and many wish lists were created by children keen to buy and read books.
For every book bought, you helped to earn free books for our school. We sold an incredible £642.21 in books, resulting in £256.88 in rewards for free books from Scholastic. We appreciate your support for the Book Fair – book ownership is an important part in encouraging children to read for pleasure. Thank you to Sue Shead, our librarian for organising the Book Fair.
Following the success of our Ceilidh on 25th January, we were delighted to hold an end of half term Scottish dancing lesson for both our parents and children. It was a lot of fun and a lovely way to round off our half term. My thanks to June Hornby our dance teacher, and to all the children and parents who came along!
I wish you all a very happy half term holiday and look forward to seeing you after the break!
David
