‘Tis the season to be jolly

The School Choir began their concerts at the end of November, when the school hosted their Round the World Fair, which turned out to be a resounding success. The weather was beautiful, the international food was delicious and the performances of the School Choir and their band, AKA were the icing on the cake. This fair also managed to raise nearly 4'000 euros for Dr Stoma's Mediterranea charity, which the school is very involved in.

The 50 pupils from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 and ranging in age from 6 to 11 went on to perform at the beginning of December at the immensely busy and popular Christmas Fair in Portals Nous, where once again the sun was shining and everyone enjoyed listening to their favourite Christmas songs.

The following day, 18 pupils from years 5 and 6 visited the residents at SAR Residential home for the elderly in Portals Nous, to spread some Christmas cheer. The children were warmly welcomed and after their concert, enjoyed speaking to some of the residents, who seemed to love the presence of the young people.

A new venue to add to the Christmas list was the concert on Saturday December 10th in Porto Pi, where the pupils performed enthusiastically on a purpose built stage. This concert was organised by Q Events and included performances from 6 local schools in total and hopefully will become an annual event on the Christmas calendar.

The Choir's final performance was on Monday December 12th , when the children performed on home ground at the school in the annual Musical Evening. As well as a warmly received performance by the Choir, this also included piano music ranging from a Jingle Bells duet to a Chopin Waltz, clarinet and violin music and an explosive performance by the school band, AKA, under the able leadership of Mr Craig White. They had the whole school dining room rocking, clapping and singing along to their playing, which also included a guitar solo from Benji.

The choir has been enhanced in all performances by the assistance of the nursery teacher from school, Mrs Enright, known locally on the island as G Carmichael and the children accompanied her in the evocative song Hallelujah and Wizzard's famous Christmas song, I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day, with the children donning their Santa hats and scarves for the final chorus.

Next it was the turn on the Infants, when pupils from Nursery, Reception, Years 1 and 2 joined together to perform their own show for their parents. This included a humorous performance of All I Want for Christmas is My Two front Teeth and Oh Christmas Tree in English and German. The pupils went on to tell the Christmas story in song and rhyme to some aliens whose space ship had happened to land on the school playing field, in their musical performance of Christmas with the Aliens. The dining room was packed to bursting with enthusiastic parents and relations, all eager to see their child's moment of glory and needless to say, all the pupils performed their heart out.

And so the term at BIC draws to an end, with the children (and teachers of course) all looking forward to a welcome break, but the school music teacher, Mrs Baggaley informs us that the choir and pupils will be just as busy in the New Year. So watch this space.....