Message from Steve Brady, Headteacher - Forest Hill School

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FHS Issue 12 17/6/09 13:34 Page 2 PAGE 2 Forest Fest drama PAGE 3 Forest Hill School will be launching its first ever community arts festival and summer fair, ‘Forest Fest’, on Saturday 4th July 2009, between 12pm-7pm. “Forest Fest is the perfect family day out, and a great occasion and opportunity for the many different members of the schools local community to come together and enjoy, experience and participate in the arts.” Sasha Leacock, FHS Community Performing Arts Manager The festival – which has been programmed to coincide with the school’s summer fair (and organised with the much appreciated support of the PTA) – boasts a full and varied programme incorporating live music, dance, drama and poetry performances and installations, FREE performing and visual art workshops, an exhibition, live mural and arts market, alongside traditional fete activities, food and refreshments. Visitors of all ages can choose to participate in a number of free workshops, including songwriting, arts and crafts, Bollywood and street dance, lino cutting, Hoola Hooping, and fun exploratory tuba inspired brass workshops; or browse around the festival arts market where they can find out about local art services or purchase one of the items on display, including African inspired handmade bags and accessories and original photographic prints. Other programme highlights include the LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) Living Archive installation and exhibition; drama performances of Blood Wedding and Out There – a collection of dynamic and powerful relationship stories by FHS and London Bubble Theatre Company’s joint 13-17s Youth Theatre; dance performances in contemporary, street, Bollywood, musical theatre and ballet styles; plus music by the Centre for Young Musicians Percussion Ensemble, Grime MC Eman, Trinity Brass Ensemble, the You Tubas, and headlining, soul/funk and gospel band TC. Admission to the festival costs £1 for adults, 30p for children, and promises to be one of the most vibrant and entertaining events Forest Hill has seen in years, showcasing and celebrating an eclectic mix of artistic styles and talent by students from FHS and other schools, local performance groups and bands. An ideal fun day out, so don’t miss it! The LIFT Archive project This has been a very special project bringing together the Drama Department and the school library. The London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), which has existed since 1981, created an archive of their files, papers, posters and objects at Goldsmiths University Library. We were invited to work with the staff and students of the MA Applied Drama course to develop our own performances based on items in the archive. The LIFT Archive will officially open to the public on 30th June and will be cohosted by FHS students. The performance derived from research in the archive can be experienced at Forest Fest on 4th July. Students and staff from Forest Hill worked at the University Library to research the Archive and uncover one of its stories. The story has been interpreted as a soundscape which consists of found sounds from our surrounding environment. LIFT will be taking part in our Arts Festival, so come along, find out more and prepare to close your eyes and hear our story. Carol Webb Librarian
FHS Issue 12 17/6/09 13:34 Page 3 PAGE 3 dance music PAGE 4 Images from the Black Pupils’ Achievement Programme Celebration Evening 30th April and the Royal Ballet Partnership Project with Sydenham School Dec 08 - May 09 Where were you in the 80s? Remembering the fashion, the fads, and the music of the 80s brings fond (but cringeworthy) memories for most. The Year 10 Music BTEC Performance group has added some of the fondest 80s memories so far. As part of their coursework students hosted an 80s themed evening in the Ken Kirkby Theatre. They not only had to prepare an evening of 80s anthems but also had the task of planning the whole event, from promotion to costumes to stage design. Work on the project started back in December 2008 and since then there has been a buzz of energy and excitement in the Music Department. The students spent time researching music, fashion and culture and combined all of these elements into an 90 minute show that wowed a packed theatre audience. Performances included songs by The Clash, The Smiths, Michael Jackson, and Simply Red as well as many other popular 80’s artists. The DVD will be on sale soon so watch this space for details. Well done Year 10! Ms S Vine Music Teacher Art Moves For the last 5-6 months a group of Year 9 boys and girls from Forest Hill School and Sydenham School have been working with Year 10 students from the Royal Ballet School and the National Gallery on an amazing project that was performed in front of hundreds of people at the world renowned White Lodge (the lower part of the Royal Ballet School). While the dance was being made a group of boys and girls were making sculptures with the National Gallery (which are to be displayed there). These sculptures represented some of the shapes used in the dance and shapes that were featured in the paintings displayed at the National Gallery by Michaelangelo. The project was hard, but very enjoyable work. Probably one of the best parts in the project was Bim (Bim Malcomson choreographed the dance). She was fantastic and made it as fun as possible – there is no other word to describe her, other than crazy. Despite being very funny she made sure that the dance came together on time. After many months it was time to perform. Not only did we do the piece that Bim had choreographed, we also got the chance to show other dances from our schools. Some of FHS’s Year 9 boys showed a piece choreographed by Mr Oudkerk and the boys, based on the story of the Down and Outs in Bugsy Malone with a hip hop twist! We also had a stunning contemporary dance by Troy O’Connor in Year 11. There were also three other great pieces from Sydenham and three from the Royal Ballet School. After the last performance we were given news that we would be performing in front of Prince Charles and meeting him. Only a handful of us from the 50 that had done the project could do it which was very unfortunate as it was a brilliant night! After that it was the last day of the project and we had to evaluate. This was a very sad day, as everyone was starting to bond really well. We even considered hiding in the toilets so that we wouldn’t have to leave, but we got caught! Now we have made new friends and had a fantastic experience that will last us for the rest of our lives!! Joelle Lecky Year 9 participant NB: A massive thank you to the wonderful work of the Education Department at the Royal Ballet School; Jay Jolley, Ginny Brown, Alex Leonard, Carol Pakri and especially Bim Malcomson for choreography, direction and vision. Mr Oudkerk Head of Dance & Mr Jewell Dance Teacher New Recording Studio Exciting things are happening in the music department – we now have a professional recording studio, which is available for use by all students. At the core is a Mac Pro, pretty much the fastest computer on the planet, and we’re running Pro Tools and Logic Studio, the top choices for sound engineers all over the world. I had a test session with Miles Peckover. He put down a great acoustic track with piano, guitar and voice. Then came the real test: a full band recording with a very talented bunch of musicians from Year 9, Dylan Chapman, Ellis Mizen, Cameron Pickard, Perry Ward, George Wood and Toby Quast. They were all really pleased with the result and weren’t the only ones who had a good time – I absolutely loved it! So, for all you budding artistes out there, come and see what the Paul Thomas Recording Studio can do for you and your music. Phil Simpson Performing Arts Technician
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Message from Steve Brady, Headteacher - Forest Hill School

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