An Outstanding Production

I would like to start by thanking everyone who has been able to be a part of our discussions over the past few days about the structure of the school going forward. It has been a very important process to hear all the different viewpoints and the next stage will be for us to go through the feedback internally and use that to help with our planning.  

This has been a week in which we have seen some significant sporting success, with our Under 14 girls winning the Essex County Netball on Sunday, before also knocking Oundle out of the national Hockey cup, with a very impressive 5-0 win. Congratulations to all those who represented Felsted so well in those fixtures and I look forward to regional finals for Netball and a Hockey clash with my former home, Stowe - it will be a very important day to get a win!

This week, though, it is important to reflect on the remarkable achievement of the cast and crew, and our whole Drama team, led by the amazing Carly Bartlett, in delivering a sensational Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Secondary School Edition). The complexity of the staging was staggering, while the fast moving, time turning tales, made even more challenging by double and triple cast parts, meant that this was probably the most difficult production to pull off that Felsted has undertaken in my time.
 

Despite this, the performances were outstanding, both on an individual and a collective level. Drama enables pupils from all year groups to come together and collaborate, and with nearly one hundred and thirty pupils involved, from all year groups and houses, this was a true collaboration of the highest order. With six performances in four days, playing to full houses across the run, the pressure was on from the start, but they all delivered. One of the greatest joys of a production like this is to see people who are new to the stage going out and giving it their all. I hope that this will inspire others to take up the challenge in future productions.
 

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the production, but most of all thank you to everyone who was a part of the play. It will have created memories for life for all those involved.

Have a very good weekend and for those with mock exams at the moment, the very best wishes for your preparation. Make sure you get good sleep, eat properly and do the very best that you can.

Chris