robert smyth academy performing arts newsletter

Newsletter Date Performing Arts

Newsletter TWELTH

September 2016

Issue 12

Burnmill Road

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7JG

T: 01858 440770

F: 01858 440771

E: [email protected]

W: www.rsacademy.co.uk

ROBERT SMYTH

ACADEMY

Contributors Mrs Petersen

Mrs Routledge

Mr Hughes

Lily Preston

Layout Ava Forbes Mr Hughes

Editors Mr Hughes

Mrs Petersen

Welcome to the latest Performing Arts Newsletter! This issue will see us reflecting on what

happened within the faculty during the previous summer term, as well as reflecting on

academic success and other achievements outside of the curriculum. Last term we said a fond “farewell” to our drama teachers Claire Parsons and Kyle Eastwood,

who joined us initially to help out for a term last year and enjoyed it so much that they stayed

for the whole year! We cannot thank them enough for all they have done and both staff and

students will miss them. We are saying “hello” though to our new full-time drama teacher,

Amanda Syngajewski! Amanda is already a hit with the students and is settling in very well to

life in the faculty and the academy.

Results this year in the faculty were excellent and we were all very pleased that all the hard

work paid off. In A level music, 43% of students achieved the A* grade and in music technology A level, 63% achieved A*/As. In A level drama we had a lot of students bring up

their AS grades with all students achieving a C grade in the subject. AS stand-out results were

in music with 81% achieving A-C. GCSE grades made a huge leap in drama with 87% of students achieving A*-C, which is now well above the national average. Dance made big

gains again as well with 90% A*-C. GCSE music maintained its consistent percentage of 93%

A*-C. Music, dance and drama had at least 52% of students make 4 Levels of Progress or

more, a great achievement.

The last edition of the newsletter marked the end of an era as ‘The Ideal Marketing Company’

ended its sponsorship and our ‘Learning Technologies Coordinator’, Chris Wells, who

formatted and assembled the newsletter every term, left the academy for pastures new. We

need to say a massive “Thank you!” to ‘Market Harborough and The Bowdens Charity’ who

have stepped in to help fund the newsletter on a temporary basis this academic year. We are

though still on the lookout for a more permanent sponsor for the newsletter. If this is

something that you think you might be interested in doing, then please don’t hesitate to

contact me on [email protected] and I can answer any questions. Ex-student, Ava

Forbes is helping to compile this term’s edition whilst studying for her second year of her

Media degree at Newcastle University. If anybody is interested in helping to compile the

newsletter then they too should contact me directly on the email above. Without the help of

these people, this newsletter would simply not exist. We thank them wholeheartedly.

Last academic year saw our Performing Arts twitter account created. If you’d like to receive

up to date developments of happenings in the faculty, then please join us by

following @RSAPerfArts.

Arts Week 2016 Our annual ‘Arts Week’ is back and will commence week beginning 10th October. Arts Week

gives students from all key stages across the academy the chance to take part in an arts

activity not found within their curriculum lessons. Arts Week is a joint initiative between the ‘Art

and Design’ and ‘Performing Arts’ faculties and has been running in its current form for 4

years. This year we have on offer: Dark room photography, Origami, Theatre Devising, Music

production, Salsa dance, Commercial dance, Paper Pokemon, Fashion illustration, Parsnips

Youth Theatre and many others. Some workshops are tailored for specific key stages so there

should be something for everyone. You can sign up for workshops in Student Services, but be

quick because places are limited.

Robert Smyth Academy

Performing Arts

Newsletter

mailto:[email protected]

Performing Arts Newsletter TWELTH EDITION 2016

Soul Patrol Headline at 2016 School Games National

Finals Following submission of an audition DVD of three original songs written by

Year 13 students Taylor Burton, Jake Cartwright and Georgia Whittle, RSA’s

Soul Patrol were selected by the YST (Youth Sports Trust) Factor to perform at

the Closing Ceremony of the 2016 School Games National Finals. This took

place on Sunday 4 September at 3.45 pm at Loughborough University in front

of 2,500 spectators. Soul Patrol was the only musical group to have been

selected to perform along with two dance groups from Leicestershire. On the

panel of judges were Youth Sport Trust ambassador and former Pussycat Doll

Kimberly Wyatt, Bounce from Flawless and Lizzie Gough from Alesha Dixon’s

Street Stars.

The School Games National Finals brings together 1,600 of the UK’s best

young athletes for four days of sporting competition. Many Olympians and

Paralympians who featured at Rio this year have competed in previous School Games including Dina Asher-Smith, Jonnie

Peacock, Adam Peaty, Ellie Simmonds and Hannah Cockroft. Youth Sport Trust Director of External Relations, Phil

Chamberlain, said: “The School Games National Finals is a huge event that gives a true taste of high-level multi-sport

competition to the UK’s best school-aged competitors. It has the feel of a mini-Olympic and Paralympic Games and as

such the YST Factor offers an excellent opportunity for young talented performance artists to realise their dreams in front

of a large audience.”

Many congratulations to all members of Soul Patrol on their fantastic achievement in being selected to headline at this

event and for their outstanding performance on the day. The video from the event is available to watch on our academy

website under ‘News and Events’ at http://www.rsacademy.co.uk/?p=47031

After the event we received these emails from two of the organisers:

“I just wanted to pass on our sincere thanks, from all of us here at the Youth Sport Trust, for all your hard work in the run

up to the Closing Ceremony in order to put on such a fantastic performance! We were all truly blown away by the

professionalism shown by your young people and for the incredible performances. We know how much hard work must

have gone into rehearsing for the Ceremony and we really do appreciate it. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as

we did - the feedback about the overall ceremony has been extremely positive!”

“I just wanted to drop you a message to say thanks to you and the rest of Soul Patrol.

It was a pleasure to work with you all at the School Games event. Given the number of you and the timings of the sound

check, performance and changeover we were all concerned that it was going to be quite difficult but in the end it was not

only fine but really enjoyable. Everyone was really professional and did exactly as asked for the setup and changeover

which made our lives so much easier. Our stage manager has asked me to pass on his thanks for that specifically. Also,

we were all really impressed with how the group performed. Not only the musical talent which was obvious but the stage

presence, understanding of dynamics, microphone technique, clear requests for monitor mixes, etc... It made mixing

much easier and the performance was great to watch. Generally things like this go unmentioned but it makes such a

difference that I wanted to let you know how much we appreciated it. Hopefully at some point I can convince somebody to

book you for an event again.”

Music Tour 2016: Barcalona This year the destination for the 12th annual music tour for the

Jazz Band, Big Band and Soul Band was Barcelona. We last toured

this city in 2008. The bands performed three evening concerts: one

in Cunit on 3rd July, one at the summer jazz festival series in

Premia de Dalt (a suburb of Barcelona) on 4th, and one at Seminari

Conciliar (the university complex) in Barcelona itself on 5th July.

During the day we undertook lots of sight-seeing in and around Bar-

celona which included Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter, Boccaria

Market, Barcelona Cathedral, La Sagrada Familia (famous Gaudi

church), Picasso Museum, cable car ride to Montjuic,

Olympic Stadium, and Parc la Citadel. A fantastic time was had by

all and the students were superbly behaved throughout and were

outstanding ambassadors for the academy.

Photos are available to view on our academy website where videos

will also be available soon:

http://www.rsacademy.co.uk/?p=46615




Big Band & Soul Patrol at Music for Youth Music for Youth is the largest youth music festival in the UK. Over 60 regional festivals are held throughout the country

during February and March each year featuring about 1600 groups and over 20,000 young people from primary school

age up to the age of 21. Both instrumental and vocal ensembles of all sizes and musical styles can enter the festival.

There are no ‘winners’ but each group receives written and oral feedback on the day from two music mentors who are

themselves professional musicians. Although it is not a competition as such, there is the chance to progress from the

regional festival through to the next stage. From the 1600 groups that perform in the regional festivals across the country

about 300 are chosen for the National Festival held in Birmingham in July each year. This year RSA had entered five

groups into the regional festivals: Soul Patrol, Big Band, Jazz Band, Versatile Voices Choir and Percussion Ensemble, and

we were delighted that both Soul Patrol and the Big Band were invited to the National Festival as we usually only get one

group through each year.

On Friday 8th July, just 24 hours after returning from the Barcelona tour, the

RSA Big Band performed at the National Festival at Birmingham Town Hall.

The band played 3 pieces: ‘What Were You Thinking’, ‘My Funny Valentine’

and ‘Back to the Basement’. They performed extremely well and received

some excellent feedback from the adjudicators. The video from the

performance is available to view on our academy website at:


Well done to all the performers (soloists indicated with a *):

Andrew Martin* – flute

Natalie Crook*, Jane Earland & Alice Riches – alto saxes

Esme Butler Davies* & Kim Jeffs – tenor saxes

Holly Barnett – baritone sax

Molly Sykes*, Sophie Burleigh, Maddie Oakland, Josh Watson -trumpets

Joe Horspool* & Tom Jenkins – trombones

Taylor Burton* – piano

Jake Cartwright* – guitar

Jake Bentley – bass guitar

Jonny Nicholson – drum kit

Lyle Burton – auxiliary percussion

On Saturday 9th July it was Soul Patrol’s turn to perform, their venue also being the Town Hall in Birmingham. The band

played three original songs written by three of the Year 13 band members: ‘Rhythm & Music’ by Jake Cartwright and

Georgia Whittle, and ‘Naïve’ and ‘The Funk’, both composed by Taylor Burton. The band received some outstanding feed-

back from the adjudicators who described the band as ‘classy and cool’ and commended them for really getting the audi-

ence going. It was quite funny that they mentioned that they ‘could see the band touring’ as we had just returned from the

tour to Barcelona 48 hours previously!

The video from the performance is available to view on our

academy website at: http://www.rsacademy.co.uk/?p=46627

Well done to all the performers:

Ellis Barthorpe, Ellie Boxall & Lydia Kolic – vocals

Natalie Crook – alto sax

Holly Barnett – baritone sax

Molly Sykes – trumpet

Joe Horspool – trombone

Taylor Burton – piano

Jake Cartwright – guitar

Jake Bentley – bass guitar

Jonny Nicholson & Lyle Burton – drum kit/aux perc.




A Level Musicians Give Public Recital of A*

Exam Pieces On Monday 9th May three of the eighteen students studying A level Music at RSA gave a lunchtime recital open to the

general public at the Methodist Church in Northampton Road. The three performers were: Emily Newlyn (violin), Joe

Horspool (trombone), and Georgia Whittle (soprano) accompanied by our peripatetic piano teacher Nicholas Scott-Burt.

Emily and Joe both performed their full A level recital programme,

lasting 12-15 minutes and consisting of four contrasting pieces with a

theme. Emily’s violin recital focused on music by Eastern European

composers whilst Joe’s trombone recital featured Romantic music.

Vocalist Georgia Whittle had already recorded her A level recital at the

academy the previous month, the theme of which was musical theatre

songs through time, so she performed just the final song from her

recital. The recital constitutes the performance coursework element of

the A level music course and counts for 30% of the A2 year and 15%

of the overall A level. All three students performed exceptionally well

and achieved A* in the A level performance unit.

The concert was very well attended by family, friends, students, staff,

governors as well as people from the general public. Following the

concert, we received the email below from Peter Ellement, a member

of the general public, who regularly attends our academy concerts:

“Just a short note to say how much I enjoyed yesterday’s event. I was pleased that quite a good number of people

attended. Please pass on my congratulations to Emily, Georgia and Joe for excellent performances and an enjoyable

hour of music.”

Upper Sixth Leavers’ Concert The annual RSA Upper Sixth Leavers’ Concert took place on Friday 20th May in the Max. As always, it was a fantastic

showcase of the amazing musical talent and breadth of musical styles amongst the 6th form. The concert featured bands

and solo instrumentalists and vocalists performing in a range of styles, as well as the Big Band, Soul Patrol, and the Year

13 Flute Quartet. Emily Newlyn performed the 1st movement from Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.3 accompanied by a

chamber orchestra consisting of RSA students, parents, and a few non-RSA players.

Upper Sixth Leavers:

Jake Bentley (bass guitar), Sophie Burleigh (trumpet, percussion), Taylor Burton (piano, synth), Ben Campbell (guitar,

drums), Billy Capell (A2 music tech & sound), Jake Cartwright (vocals, guitar), Tom Devlin (A2 music tech & sound), James

Hamill (violin), Rebecca Hix (flute), Joe Horspool (trombone), Tom Jenkins (euphonium, trombone), Hannah Mance (flute),

Emily Newlyn (violin, vocals), Jonny Nicholson (drums), Mark Shuttleworth (violin), Kiara Tooms (flute), Georgia Whittle

(vocals).


Musical in a Day—Outreach Wednesday 22nd June saw Robert Smyth Academy host a Performing Arts day for Gifted and Talented year 7 students

from across the south of Leicestershire. Gartree High School, Welland Park Academy, Manor High School, Thomas Estley

Community College and Lutterworth High School all sent students who were gifted in Performing Arts subjects to Robert

Smyth to learn the opening of the musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ in one day.

The day consisted of three individual workshops focussing on the

three disciplines of Performing Arts: Music, Dance and Drama. Each

workshop focussed on students exploring each discipline within the

context of the opening Prologue, a song, a dance and two scenes

from the musical. Drama teacher Claire Parsons was directing the

drama workshops and had a group becoming ‘human scenery’, one

group acting out the characters and another group providing us with

two human based ‘Audrey II’ plants, the villain of the musical.

Head of Music, Helle Petersen and singing teacher, Debbie Smith

were on hand to take the singing workshop where students learned

two of the songs from the musical in two-part harmony.

Head of Dance, Marie Routledge and year 12 RSA student, Helen

Spacie led the dance workshops where students were taught a very

lengthy 3-minute dance routine which they all learnt from memory. A

fantastic achievement in itself!

The day culminated with all of the elements of the workshops being

put together to create an opening dance/song and first scene from the musical, which was directed by Claire Parsons.

The day was organised by RSA Gifted and Talented coordinator, Rachael Eddy and Head of Performing Arts, Nick Hughes

in liaison with the ‘Learning South Leicestershire’ group of schools.

Rachael Eddy said this about the day “It was fantastic. This was a group of students who absolutely threw themselves

into what was a fun and fast paced day. What I really noticed was how much fun the Performing Arts staff has together –

a great mix of brilliant teaching and enthusiasm. And how great to see so many 6 th form students happily giving up their

time by helping out in the workshops.”

Hopefully all the students will take away many positives from the day and understand that hard work, perseverance and

team work always yields outstanding progress and results. The whole day was a huge success with all students thoroughly

enjoying their day away from their regular schools to explore and be challenged in the Performing Arts. Who says the Arts

don’t benefit young people? Not us. #bacc4thefuture

Dance—Student Successes Congratulations to Charlie Tatman who started his professional dance training at Urdang Dance Academy

in London on Monday 5th September. The dance department wish him the very best of luck in his training.

Congratulations to Megan Ferguson who started training at Ballet Rambert in London, a fantastic

achievement.

Congratulations to Lydia Smith who performed with the English Youth Ballet in Giselle.

GCSE Dance Results Whoop! Whoop! Wow!! Well done to all GCSE Year 11 dance students! 90% A* - C and 50% A* - A! A really outstanding

achievement to a fantastic group of young dancers. It was an absolute pleasure teaching you!!

. Performing Arts Newsletter TWELTH EDITION 2016

Year 10 Grimm’s Fairy Tales On the 23rd of June, the talented year 10 GCSE drama group put on a night of

mystery, fantasy and magic in the Max studio. The night was based on the

Grimm’s Fairy tales. Many people think that the Grimm’s fairy tales are just the

ordinary Disney fairy stories, but they are wrong. Grimm’s fairy tales are darker

and more twisted; they are the original stories that were told hundreds of years

ago. Back then they were used to teach lessons like, “do not talk to strangers”

or “always do what your mother tells you to”. To make sure listeners got the message they used gruesome and horrifying descriptions which embedded in

the listener’s mind. This made sure the listeners would never be as dangerous

or reckless as the characters in the stories.

Year 10 were split into groups and given scripts of the original tales. The scripts

they were given were Ashputle, The Golden Goose, Little Red Cap, Hansel and

Gretel, Musicians of Bremen and Snow White. Each group could interpret them

in any way they wanted to, some groups took the scripts into darker place while

some went for a more light hearted approach.

This performance was open to the public and many people came. The audience

consisted of 40-50 people. Some comments from the audience were, ’this was

one of the best shows I have seen in a while, the year 10s were amazing, I

would definitely watch it again.’ - Georgia Stuart-Jones Year 11. One parent

stated ‘Wow! I didn’t know they were so talented.’

Awards for Young Musicians Applications are now invited for awards of up to £2,000. AYM believe that all talented young people deserve the chance to

progress in their music making. That’s why they’re awarding up to £100,000 in grants each year to exceptional young

instrumentalists aged 5-17 in need of support. As well as receiving flexible funding towards the costs of their musical

development, award winners will benefit from individually tailored support which may comprise mentoring, workshops and

master classes with professional musicians, the chance to observe rehearsals with professional orchestras and other

musical partners, and performance opportunities.

For info and to apply for an Award visit http://www.a-y-m.org/how-wehelp/ awards/.

VAT off Instruments Students who wish to purchase a new musical instrument for use with their musical studies in the academy can take

advantage of the scheme offered where the cost of purchasing the instrument will not include VAT. Students have to purchase the instrument through the academy and a form must be completed and signed by authorised

Academy staff before purchasing the instrument. No VAT refunds can be given retrospectively. Further details and an application form can be downloaded from the academy website under ‘Parents’ -> ‘Letters home’ or contact Mrs Petersen

for more details.

RSA Dance Company News

Welcome to all of our new members! Together we are hoping to build on the success of last year’s performance at Curve

Theatre. The company will once again be entering the Mass Movement Youth Dance Platform 2017, with applications

due in December. If successful the performance will take place at Curve Theatre on Saturday January 28th. We are also

hoping to perform at Curve in February with Studio 79’s dance festival ‘New Creations 2017’.

By Lily Preston —Year 11 Drama student

http://www.a-y-m.org/how-wehelp/


Performing Arts Clubs - Autumn Term 2016

Monday RSA DANCE COMPANY

1.00-1.30 The Max Mrs Routledge

GRADE 5 MUSIC

THEORY 1.00-1.30 Room MU02 Mrs Petersen

MUSICAL

THEATRE CLUB 1.00 – 1.30 The Max 6th Form Led

STRING

ENSEMBLE 1.00 – 1.30 Band Room Mike Shaw

Tuesday SAX

ENSEMBLE 10.30 – 11.00 Band Room Francine Warner

VERSATILE

VOICES (Y10-13) 1.00 – 1.30 Room MU02 Debbie Smith

BRONZE ARTS

AWARD (Y7) 1.00 – 1.30 MXS Mrs Routledge

BRASS ENSEMBLE 1.00 - 1.30 Band Room John Gornall

Wednesday FLUTE

ENSEMBLE 10.30-11.00 Band Room Jo Conquest

VIVA VOCE 1.00-1.30 Band Room Mr Hughes & Debbie

Smith

FLUTE QUARTET 1.00-1.30 Room MU02 Jo Conquest

SENIOR ORCHESTRA

(Y10-13)* 1.00-1.30 Band Room Mrs Petersen

Thursday PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE

10.30 – 11.00 Band Room Darron McHarg

KS3 YOUTH THEATRE

1.00 – 1.30 The Max 6th Form Led

MUSIC DROP-IN 1.00 – 1.30 Room MU01 Mr Hughes

JUNIOR JAZZ

BAND (Y7) 1.00 – 1.30 Band Room Mrs Petersen

SENIOR JAZZ BAND (Y10-13)

3.30-4.30 Band Room Mrs Petersen

Friday ARTS COUNCIL 10.30 – 11.00 Band Room Mrs Petersen & Mr

Hughes

JUNIOR

ORCHESTRA (Y7) 1.00 – 1.30 Band Room Mrs Petersen

SOUL PATROL 3.15-5.00 Band Room Mrs Petersen

Audition/selection is only for Soul Patrol, and The Dance Company. To join any of the other groups simply turn up at the next rehearsal.

* - Starts January 2017

Burnmill Road

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7JG

T: 01858 440770

F: 01858 440771

E: [email protected]

W: www.rsacademy.co.uk

ROBERT SMYTH

ACADEMY

Performing Arts Events Calendar 2016

AUTUMN TERM

Thursday 13th October—7pm

GCSE Music Concert

Venue: The Max, Robert Smyth Academy

Saturday 12th November – 7.30 pm

Trip to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra

Venue: De Montfort Hall, Leicester

Tuesday 29th November

Christmas Concert

Venue: Main Hall

Visit us online: www.rsaperformingarts.co.uk

Grants for musical instrument purchase The EMI Music Sound foundation offer grants to students in full-time

education to fund musical instrument/equipment purchase. In the past

several RSA students have been successful in applying for funding. The

foundation accepts applications twice a year and the deadline for the next

round is at the beginning of February 2017.

For full details of the scheme and to download an application form please visit

www.emimusicsoundfoundation.com.

Practical & Theory Grade Exam Passes

Congratulations to the following students who passed their grade exams last term. This

information has been provided by peripatetic teachers, parents and students. For inclusion in

future newsletters details of exam passes can be emailed to [email protected].

Flute Trombone

Rebecca Hix Grade 8 Pass Tom Rowbotham Grade 4 Merit

Megan Barnes Grade 7 Distinction Electric Guitar

Sejal Assan Grade 7 Distinction Matt Moir Grade 5 Pass

Singing Theory

Lydia Kolic Grade 7 Merit Kim Jeffs Grade 5 Merit

Daryanne Scott Grade 6 Distinction James West Grade 5 Pass

Charlotte Ellis Grade 5 Merit



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