On Tuesday 10 December 2024, the Deer Park community gathered in Cirencester at St John the Baptist Church to join in the Christmas festivities at our annual Carol Service. With an extraordinary number of pupils and staff involved in this year’s event, the Church was full and standing! The evening started with the traditional ‘Once in Royal David’s City’, with the first solo going to Year 7 pupil, Amalie.

Mrs Gleed, Head of Expressive arts said ‘The Carol Service is one of my favourite events, everyone is getting excited for Christmas and so it is always a joyful event. I was really pleased to have so many pupils involved in the event; there was a real range of items for the evening, and, of course, Amalie set a high bar, starting the event with her wonderful solo.'

With over 120 pupils involved in this year’s Carol Service, friends and family were treated to a wide selection of Christmas numbers, performed by different instrumental groups, singers and dancers. Early on in the evening, the Guitar group and Flute ensemble joined forces to perform a beautiful rendition of ‘Silent Night’. We also had festive readings delivered by our staff and pupils, with readings from the Bible and our pupils reading as the characters. The DP Players performed a ‘Frozen’ medley, the ever-popular DP Singers performed several numbers, including ‘Make Me A Channel of Your Peace’, and the newly formed Ukulele group performed ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. Two other performance groups who joined forces were the DP Dancers and KS4 Singers, with the dancers’ lyrical display to ‘Somewhere in My Memory’ whilst the KS4 Singers sang.

[Rehearsal photographs from earlier in the day]

Due to popular demand and pupil and parental request, ‘Merry Little Elves’, written and composed by our very own Miss Faux, was performed by our DP Singers to everyone’s delight, always a crowd pleaser! Our thanks to the Tech Team and, obviously, not forgetting the enthusiastic Year 7 rendition of 'Merry Christmas Everyone'! Another item that received much praise this year was our staff choir! Members of staff from all different faculties in the school joined together to perform their version of ‘Sleigh Ride’, and then later joining the DP Singers to perform ‘That’s Christmas To Me’.

Mrs Chaplin, English Teacher, said 'I was very excited when the Staff Choir were invited to sing at the annual Christmas Carol Service. Not only was it an opportunity to sing in the beautiful church, with amazing acoustics, but also it was such a pleasure to sing with and see all our pupil participants, especially the DP Singers, who I have been supporting since September - they did not disappoint! It was a wonderful evening to help get into the Christmas mood and the talent amongst our pupils exceeded expectations. Well done everyone!'

There was a retiring collection this year for Epilepsy Action. Epilepsy Action is a British charity providing information, advice and support for people with epilepsy. Epilepsy Action has been fighting to improve the lives of people with epilepsy for over 70 years, and they have delivered some life-changing support in that time. They also provide support and information for health professionals and campaign for improved health outcomes and changes in attitudes towards epilepsy. There is an increasing number of our school community that have, or have been affected by, Epilepsy, so this was a worthwhile cause. We are pleased that we raised £232.03.

We wish everyone a restful and enjoyable Christmas break!