Pupils and students provide musical entertainment and create artistic lanterns for Candlelit Dartmou

On Friday 29th and Saturday 30th November, many Dartmouth Academy students and staff participated in the annual Candlelit Dartmouth festival weekend. Friday saw students performing on the Bandstand in Dartmouth's Royal Avenue Gardens. The Academy Choir kicked off the musical entertainment with seasonal Christmas carols as passers by gathered. The Academy's Steel Band, Drum Line, Junk Band, Years 9 and 10 GCSE Music groups, and Guitar Ensemble followed throughout the afternoon and evening with the crowd growing as the entertainment continued. Academy Music and Drama Teacher Anthony Chamberlain said, "The GCSE groups follow the Musical Futures approach to teaching and learning in curriculum Music. It is all geared to independent learning and the students have set the bands up themselves, along with rehearsing the music and deciding on the instruments and style they like to play." Mr Chamberlain added, "All groups played extremely well and I was pleased to see the development they have all made since last year. It was the first ever performance for the Year 9 GCSE group, and I was delighted with how they handled the live event. It was also great to see the Year 10 GCSE group stepping in to help the Year 9 performers, they were at that stage in their learning last year, so know how daunting the first live performance can be!" As dusk fell on the second day of the festival, Dartmouth saw the Candlelit Procession wind its way through its streets. Participating in the procession were Dartmouth Academy students joined by pupils from St John's RC, Stoke Fleming and Kingswear Primary schools, who had created lanterns for the procession at special workshops.

Pupils in Years 4 to 6 from Dartmouth Academy, St John's and Stoke Fleming schools as well as Year 9 students worked on the lanterns at workshops held at the Academy which started back in September. Participants in the well attended community workshops created large scale withy structured based on insects. Year 9 Academy student Charlotte said, "It has been great fun learning how to create withy sculptures, I'm really pleased with my work." Nicola Perrot, Director of Learning and Lead Art & Design Teacher at the Academy said: "Our annual participation in Candlelit Dartmouth has been even more imaginative this year and the results are very dramatic." Many of the spectators on both days commented on how impressed they were with the students appearance, behaviour and talent.

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