Download Senior School Opening Assembly

Book Week
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Book week was launched during assembly on
Monday morning by Miss Gemma Kirby and a group
of Year 9 pupils from the Senior School, some of
whom are ex pupils of the Junior School. Miss Kirby
gave us a brief introduction to William Shakespeare’s
life and works and this was followed by a potted
dramatisation of the beginning of Romeo and Juliet,
complete with fight scenes and concluding with the
premature death of the star-crossed lovers.
Competitions began in earnest in the Library and
assembly
on the curved wall, with pupils consulting the many
reference books on display to help solve the puzzles
and quizzes. Mrs Reid was delighted with the number
of competitors on the first day. The response to
the ‘make your own heraldic family shield’ was
outstanding with everyone coming up with clever
and
imaginative
representation
of
Elizabethan gloves which have all
been displayed beautifully alongside
the shields in our Exhibition area.
A fabulous costume display in the
exhibition area showed a selection
of Shakespearian outfits on loan
from The National Theatre Costume
department.
Throug
hout
the w
eek
d i sp l ay s an d l i br ar y
c om pe t it ion s
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name. The Infants also treated us to a colourful
Monday
and well thought out images to represent their family
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Displays
displays
shields
he ra ld ic sh ie ld s
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ys
Dis
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displays
gloves
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E l i zv e s
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Are
o u r t r i b ut e
Shakespea t o
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costumes
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displays
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Exh
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Tues
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Tuesday saw the arrival of Faye and Chris from The
Education
G l o b e T h e at r e
wor ksho ps
Department.
They introduced themselves to the whole school in
assembly and posed quite a few tricky questions
neighbourhood.
about Shakespeare to their audience. It would be true
At the Globe we were met by actors Buro and
to say that they were impressed with the knowledge
Peter who were to guide us around the theatre for
that many of our children demonstrated, spanning
the morning and run our workshop. We gathered
from Reception to Year 6.
outside to hear about how the Elizabethans liked
For the rest of the day the actors were located in
entertainment and especially the theatre. Buro
the Michael Croft Theatre and The Pavilion and these
explained that the original theatre had been
venues provided good space for the drama activities
destroyed and the present one was a relative
to be held and enjoyed by all the children. The
newcomer to the Thameside. We entered the
sessions began with vocal warm-ups and proceeded
theatre and sat high up in one of the boxes
with getting the children to embrace the physicality
which would have been reserved for the more
of the characters that they might be portraying in the
affluent members of society; ‘the place to be
plays.
seen’, we were told.
Movement and contorting the body was demonstrated
Following on from the tour, the children took
as a strong instrument for conveying passion and
part in two workshops based loosely around
emotion in Shakespeare’s plays. Using the voice as
The Tempest. They worked in pairs using a large
an implement was instrumental to delivering the lines
rehearsal studio creating storms, beasts and other
well but this had to be accompanied by appropriate
characters. They were taught to play with language
movement and facial expression. The children were
and the delivery of lines and how best to emphasise
totally engaged in all these sessions and disinhibited.
certain phrases for dramatic effect. Tom (6N) was
We have a school of budding thespians. Our Globe
selected to ‘spar’ verbally with Buro, carrying out
visitors said how much they had enjoyed working
opposing commands, and he managed this task
with all the groups.
splendidly. The session was over all too quickly
Meanwhile the Year 6 children travelled up to The
and we then made our way down the river towards
Globe by train via London Bridge and enjoyed a short
Tate Modern where we enjoyed our packed lunches
walk through some of London’s most historic dockland
before heading back to school.
Globe Theatre
Outreach
Tuesday
Theatre
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Globe
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G l o b e T h e at r e
wor ksho ps
Tuesday
ay
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Tues
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Globe Theatre
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costume parade. What a wonderful array
of imaginative and inventive characters
we were treated to, from the youngest to
the oldest member of school. The hall was
awash with Shakespeares, Cleopatras,
e
m
u
c o s tr a d e
pa
costume parade
Wednesday saw the revival of our
y
a
sd
Kings, Queens, Romeos and Juliets,
nymphs and all manner of Elizabethan
characters. Frederick in Year 5 showed
how he could think ‘outside the box’
Wednesday
Julius Caesars, witches, fairies, Hamlets,
by dressing up as the ‘Complete Works
done to all - it was quite an impressive
spectacle as the photographs reveal.
Thank you to the staff who also made an
effort to join in the spirit of the morning
by donning a costume.
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of Shakespeare’ - no mean feat. Well
Book Week
Thursday began with the Houses assembling
to take part in a shared reading session as well
as practising their House Poems for Friday’s
competition. The younger members of our fold
always love the opportunity of reading aloud
shared reading
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Thursday
and being read to by their older school friends.
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Fri
our annual House Spoken English Competition. The
Houses recited a selection of modern and amusing
poems ranging from ‘I Wish I’d Looked After Me
Teeth’ by Pam Ayres to ‘Witch Goes Shopping’
by Lilia Moore. The performances were lively and
entertaining. The Reception Class treated us to a
charming rendition of ‘Tiny Tim’,
always a very popular turn.
iday
R e c e pt i o n
per f o r m
Mr Newton kindly acted as our
reception perform
Friday heralded our grand finale of the week with
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Master of Ceremonies throughout
competition
the morning, ensuring that the
running order and performances
were seamless.
This year, the final winners of the
much coveted Golden Pear Trophy
part; this is always one of the
most exciting
events in
our
calendar.
As is always the case, Alleyn’s pupils threw
themselves wholeheartedly into Book Week and
William Shakespeare was an excellent subject for
the prolific and boundless creativity shown by the
whole school community throughout the week.
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professi
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to all the competitors who took
Friday
were Leopards. Congratulations
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L e o p ard s per f o r m
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Ja g ua rs pe r f or m
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