January 18, 2018

The House Sing-Off brought down the curtain on Term 1 in emphatic style. For the audience it must have felt like Santa had visited early as they were treated to eight Christmassy numbers performed by the House Bands and each House in their entirety.

Panthera opened the show with an excellent and energetic version of ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’. Frances scaled the high notes superbly and our judges were impressed by the musical talents of the band including House Leader Mymi.

Next up were Sabre playing Wham’s Christmas hit ‘Last Christmas’. The band were entirely made up of Key Stage 3 and highlighted the exciting musical talent we have in the younger year groups. They were supported by an amazing percussion accompaniment with Mr Lee, Kru Jo, Ms. Cook and
Ms. O’Sullivan showcasing their talents.

The winning band item was performed by Surus who chose ‘Jingle Bell Rock’. The influence of Mrs Kellner was clear as there was an excellent combination of instruments rhythmically and melodically creating a unique version of the original song with a Surus stamp.

Finally, the stage was set for ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ to make an appearance and House Leader Mr Jones was even spotted on bass. Fern led her House with aplomb supported by Mos on saxophone and the band did a great job of making Rudolph part bear for the afternoon.

After a brief interlude with Mr Wilsonlock assuming the role of compère without compare it was time for the whole House items.

Ursus were up first and let the audience know that ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. This was a wonderfully choreographed piece with the waking students then exploding into life in synchronised wonder. Miss Hullock and Lua put a lot of hard work into getting their dancers trained and ready and the result was a slick and animated performance that had the audience and waiting Houses in awe.

The stage was then set for Surus to invite people to build a snowman. Ella and Caitlin supported by the comedic talents of Mr Hunter and Mr Spence created a memorable version of this Frozen classic. The younger Surus members opened the number with an excellent harmony before the older students arrived on stage to support.

The finale then had Surus inviting the audience to build a snow elephant with Olaf and the Ursus elephant and a brilliant placard displaying their intentions! This creative interpretation wowed the audience and the judges.

Sabre were up next and confident that all his hard work in preparation would come to fruition – Mr Conway took a watching brief back stage. It is safe to say that his confidence was not misplaced. This was a superbly arranged version of ‘Let It Go’ from start to big, show stopping, hilarious finish. It is safe to say the audience were Frozen as they watched. The culmination saw Elsa (Mr Morris) appear assisted by his stage hands (Miss Giddings and Mrs Dixon) and display his moves as the Snow Queen with real Frozen super powers much to the audiences delight.

The unenviable task of following this number fell to Panthera who came on stage confident that their number, ‘Love is an Open Door’, would steal the show. Once again the dancing was extremely well timed and the singing was excellent despite the extremely technical nature of the song. We even had a Mathematical love story unfold before our very eyes as Mr Woods and Miss Rugg played the central characters in an epic love drama, ultimately would 1+1=2 and would this tale of romance capture the hearts of the judges? Huge credit must go to Sarina and Sulyña who worked extremely hard to
put together a punchy Panthera performance.

It was now over to the judges…The esteemed panel consisted of the epically talented Mrs Kellner and Mr Watters, the talent spotter Miss Giddings and the make weight Mr Jones. They were charged with the difficult task of picking their overall winner. The final result after much deliberation and some Christmas karaoke was as follows:

4th Ursus
3rd Panthera
2nd Sabre
1st Surus

Huge congratulations to all the Houses for a brilliant show and well done to Surus for their winning performances.

This event would not have been so successful without the support of Khun Aor in events, the Maintenance Team, Khun Bank and Magnum who organised sound and lighting, the House Student Leaders, the House Teachers and Mrs Kellner, Mr Conway and Mr Watters for their help and input on the back stage elements.

A wonderful end to a very busy Term 1 and the standard has been set very high for the future.

Neil Groves
Head of House