Thursday afternoon marked the much-anticipated House Singing Competition, held on the last day of term. Our Senior students, guided by their VI Form House Captains and staff Heads of Houses, have been rehearsing every Friday since the start of the term to deliver stellar performances for the entire school community.

Pupils from the Prep joined us to witness Bowman, Clare, Drexel, and Stein compete for the coveted House Singing ‘McAllister’ trophy, named in honour of our previous Head of Music, Ron McCallister. He joined us as a guest judge, alongside Ms. Dinah Player (former Head of Sixth Form, who left in 2016), and our Gap Assistants, Miss Bartlett, Miss Harding, and Miss McAllister.

As is tradition, each house was assigned a compulsory song to perform. This year, it was “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” followed by a choice song selected by the House Captains:

• Bowman – “Hold Back the River”
• Clare – “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey)
• Drexel – “Counting Stars” (OneRepublic)
• Stein – “Just the Way You Are” (Bruno Mars)

While the judges deliberated behind closed doors, a staff choir took to the stage, performing ‘Carol of the Bells’ and another piece to entertain the audience. Well done to Mr Lang, Miss Broderick, Miss Abdi, Ms Allmond, Mrs Bishopp, Mrs Graham, and Mrs Shirwani for their wonderful performance!

Once decisions were made, the judges returned to the stage to share their insights. They commended each student for their participation and representation of their houses, while also evaluating musical technicalities, dynamics, soloists, instrumentalists, and arrangements.

The results were as follows:

• 4th place – Bowman
• 3rd place – Drexel
• 2nd place – Stein
• Winners – Clare

Thank you to everyone involved, especially to Mrs Kelly for overseeing the competition, our dedicated Heads of Houses, House Captains, student musicians, Mr Williams for handling sound and tech, the Site Team for setting up the hall, and all students for their engaging and supportive audience participation!