Castle School Blog

The recent trip to France organised by the MFL department has revealed strengths in a number of our students which no-one realised existed.  So reliable and successful did a group of the students become in taking on the organisation and care of younger members of the school trip that they have become known as Les Petits Profs.

The idea of using students to help staff in their supervision of the groups was trialled by the department for the first time.  They helped staff in evening classroom sessions, purchasing tickets for the various cultural trips and various daily care duties.  They were Katie Gaffney (11G2), Nikita Barnes (11Y1), Vicki Watson (10R1), Harriet Walsh (10R2) and Katie Mundy (10G).  Our thanks to them for their valuable contribution to a very successful trip.

The time was packed with activities and the students profited from the cultural and linguistic experience.  The Eifel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Montmatre Notre Dame, Galleries Lafayette and a boat trip on the Seine gave a real flavour of the French capital.  On the return journey a member of the public approached the teachers on the ferry to compliment the school on the behaviour of all the students; an unsolicited piece of praise that is well worth recording.

Congratulations to our public speaking team of Megan Husband, Zoe Backhouse and Sam Dunnett who last night won the third round of the national public speaking competition and now go on to the South West regional final.

Work on our new building is now well underway and the recent completion of the frame structure shows the scale of the project.

Poor weather and the need to re-route a number of existing services on the building site have presented challenges to our contractors – Spillers.  However, creative and positive efforts by

 Spillers, project designers Kensington Taylor and project consultants Ridge & Co, means that we remain optimistic the building will be available for use in September.

Our congratulations go to Tom Francombe who has been selected to be a member of the National Youth Wind Ensemble.  This is a fantastic achievement as well as a wonderful opportunity.  Tom will be playing the tuba in this prestigious group.

Cole Porter took centre stage at The Castle School just before half-term with a slick and well-dressed production of ‘Anything Goes’.  The superb set which at once accommodated and included an orchestra pit, an ocean-going cruise liner and individual cabins, showed the school’s design team at their most imaginative and innovative.  It looked like something from the West End.

The music, as always, under the competent baton of Sandra Sutton, resonated with  the high class atmosphere and sophistication of the first quarter of the last century.  Familiar favourite numbers that we had all grown up with were given a makeover by the energy and youth of the cast who were obviously enjoying it as much as the wrinklies in the audience.  The musicians and vocalists need look no further than this summer’s cruise companies if they want to earn a few bob in the holidays.  I’d snap them up!

In particular a mention must be given to Camellia Sinclaire who played Reno Sweeney, the singing sermoniser.  This girl is a natural entertainer whose voice would fill a stadium but whose sense of the lyrics would challenge Ella Fitzgerald in a nightclub.  She was well-matched by her troupe of ‘Fallen Angels’ who made the whole concept of falling from grace a rhapsodical delight.

This was one of the best dressed productions I have seen at the school, where standards have always been high.  The elegance of the period suited the tall and svelt and emphasised the  vulgarity of the ersatz. The confidence with which the transatlantic twang ricocheted around the stage added a verisimilitude due, perhaps, to the global colonisation by our cousins across the pond of the media today.

Director Steve Mitchell cannot, of course, produce anything without adding a veneer of gold leaf to it. This was no exception and his own humour beefed up a script which never lacked strength; though I’m not sure anyone could easily forgive the one about the Russian ballet choreographer  Yputcha Leflegin!

And what a pleasure it was to see good tap dance, just to add that Ginger Rogers zest.  This was glitzy and gorgeous.  A great evening’s entertainment.

Patrick Ryan.

Our congratulations go to year 10 student Jaysen Sharpe who has been elected as a member of the UK Youth Parliament for Taunton Deane and West Somerset for the coming year. 

Jaysen has been taking an active interest in youth issues for several years and we have no doubt that he will be a highly effective representative for the young people of the area.