Private School News

Hurst Lodge pupils sing at “BETT” show in Kensington Olympia

Pupils from Hurst Lodge School in Ascot sang a collection of songs from a new curriculum-based musical to thousands of delegates at the internationally renowned “BETT” show in Kensington Olympia last week. The largest educational exhibition in the world, BETT attracts over thirty thousand visitors annually, and the performance by seventeen junior pupils from Hurst Lodge had hundreds of teachers and education professionals humming along throughout the giant hall.

“The response from the crowd was fantastic”, said Russ Payne from Scholastic Education, the publisher of the musical. “The children performed with such enthusiasm and their singing really brought the exhibition to life. Several visitors said that the pupils’ performance was the highlight of the exhibition, and one lady commented that the singing must have been recorded, as it sounded too good to be ‘live’. She was wrong of course. It was live, and it was brilliant!”

“All of the songs from Percy Parker’s Flying Bathtub have been recorded by pupils from Hurst Lodge over the past eighteen months,” explains composer Andrew Holdsworth. “The musical is modular, so teachers can pick and mix from a collection of scenes and songs which are based on topics they’re covering in the classroom, such as the Tudors, the Victorians, the Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks. Pupils from years three to six at Hurst Lodge learnt a large number of brand new songs, which they recorded with great commitment and accuracy in a series of professional recording sessions arranged at the school. An infectious enthusiasm for singing and performing coupled with a willingness to embrace new ideas made Hurst Lodge the perfect place to bring these songs to life. The junior pupils were full of ideas, many of which have been incorporated into the musical in some way or another. I’m absolutely delighted with the results of our work together and I’m very grateful to Hurst Lodge for helping me bring this teaching resource to life. Teachers from as far away as Denmark, Mexico and India approached me after the children’s performance to tell me they were looking forward to using the songs and scripts in class, so hopefully it won’t be long before classrooms all over the world will be singing along with the children from Hurst Lodge!”

Pupils from the school made a short movie about their involvement in creating the show, which can be viewed at the school website, www.hurstlodge.co.uk.