Nursery

On Thursday 8^th and Wednesday 14^th December the children of the Nursery went by coach to Birches Valley Visitors Centre on Cannock Chase.  Their teachers and lots of Granny helpers went too and everyone had a wonderful time.  The day was filled with exciting activities.  The children not only saw Santa Claus, but they also saw his reindeer!  They saw the Christmas trees which were ready for people to buy and put in their houses to decorate.  There were beautiful displays to look at.  A Forest Ranger led the children on a woodland walk of discovery.  The children searched for oak leaves.  They searched for pine cones which were left in piles for the squirrels.  They also found a stick that they could use as a drumstick when they played a rhythm on a huge drum!  The weather was kind for the time of year and everyone agreed that it had been a brilliant day out.

Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2

Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2 made the traditional annual visit to the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford on Monday 19^th December.  This year’s production, Dick Whittington, was billed as a Rock and Roll pantomime, which meant that the musicians were on stage and there were many song.  All the elements of pantomime that we expect were there – a baddie by the name of King Rat for us to boo and hiss, (as well as shouting “He’s behind you!”), and there was plenty of slapstick comedy, jokes and participation including singing and stamping.

Years 3 and 4

On Thursday 12^th January, Years 3 and 4 went by coach to see Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s production of Sleeping Beauty.  Because the main Rep theatre is closed for redevelopment we went to the Crescent Theatre in Sheepcote Street.  The production was a non-traditional version of the fairy tale, with some very unexpected characters and events.  We had a chorus of Thorns, who repeated words, a grubby fairy called Goody whose magic often went wrong, two princes who would have made better frogs and a third prince who was rather reluctant to awaken the beautiful princess, preferring to go hunting with his sword.  We saw a prince-and-pet-chomping ogre, an ogress with a worrying tendency to want to eat her relatives and a pathetic Table Slave who was freed by the ogre but lost his best pet-friends to the ogre’s stomach.  The production was fast and exciting, with action, unexpected plot-twists, songs, music, scary bits and humour.  The costumes, scenery and staging were spectacular, with every part of the auditorium being used by the excellent and busy cast.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this exciting and unusual production.

Years 5 and 6

Both Year 5 and Year 6 visited the New Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, but on two different dates.  Year 6 visited first on Friday 16^th December and Year 5 in the New Year on Thursday 12^th January.  The New Vic is one of a few theatres ‘in the round’, a design which gives all the audience a good view of the small stage area and puts everyone very close to the action.  This year’s production was Alice in Wonderland, a special retelling, with a local touch, of Lewis Carroll’s two famous books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.  Instead of Alice being a privileged, well-dressed girl, she was the street-wise child of a Stoke-on-Trent barge family.  Instead of following the rabbit down the rabbit hole she followed a magician into a theatre and entered Wonderland when she fell through a trapdoor.  Once inside this magical world she encountered all the fabulous and colourful characters of the two stories, including the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, a bad-tempered Red Queen, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and the amazing Jabberwock.  As always, the Vic’s retelling of a classic tale for the season was original and very special. It was a lovely performance by a small company that kept everyone enthralled from start to finish.  A good time was had on both days!