On Monday 16 December 2024, Mr Cook, Miss Faux and Miss Pobjoy accompanied 50 pupils to Ashley House Care Home in Cirencester to share some festive joy and perform a number of Christmas songs for the residents.

Following our successful annual Carol Service in the Parish Church the previous week, this was the last Expressive Arts performance of the year and we were delighted to have been invited.

Music Teacher Miss Faux put together a programme of classic Christmas music that we hoped the residents would enjoy, including traditional carols such as 'Deck the Halls', 'Ding Dong Merrily on High' and 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. We also performed 'It Feels Like Christmas', one of the classic songs from The Muppet Christmas Carol film. The residents were very receptive to the songs and many joined in. To complement the great sound of our 50-strong choir, the Ukulele group also performed some Christmas classics, such as 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'.

As we had a little spare time after our performance at Ashley House, we stopped in the Market Place outside the Parish Church, in front of the very large Christmas tree, and entertained visitors to the market.

As a thank you and to recognise all the hard work leading up to our Christmas events, we invited all the performance groups involved in the Carol Service to an after-school party on Wednesday 18 December. Pupils brought along snacks to share and enjoyed classic party games like musical chairs and musical statues; there was also a chocolate treasure hunt, Karaoke and even some dancing. This concluded what has been a busy but very rewarding term in Expressive Arts.

Mr Cook, Music Teacher