As I learnt in the last week or so, the pop singer Sia is renowned for her hit tune, ‘Unstoppable’. What I subsequently learnt was just how empowering it was to hear a young group of Grade 4 girls singing these bold and confident lyrics together. I’ve found new meaning in Christina Aguilera’s lyrics ‘Loyal Brave True’ from Mulan and had my first encounter with the fine art of dice stacking. With the help of some incredible filming techniques from our in-house videographer Joey Severini and the leadership of Ms Alba Navarro-Hierro, I’ve become better acquainted with the raw and impressive talent that exists amongst our student body at Wetherby-Pembridge. On Tuesday, we watched our annual ‘WPNY’s Got Talent’ and for 90 minutes I sat transfixed and wide-eyed at the array of finely polished acts and musical performances. There is something quite humbling and emotive about watching a group of children step forward to show everyone a part of themselves that might ordinarily stay hidden from view in daily school life. We actively promote talent here in the school, but I was truly stunned this week at the high-quality productions and the renewed sense of confidence. Please do take the time to watch the whole production and the video link was sent round this week.
Our panel of judges, Jordi Nus, Ernesto Llorens and Vincent Reina had an impossible task to award prizes, but our winners were as follows. In 3rd place, we celebrate Aldana Alrowaiei in Grade 3 for her vocal performance of Aguilera’s ‘Loyal Brave True’; in 2nd place we congratulate Robyn Lim and Bella Mackay in Grade 3 for their duet performances on the piano and in 1st place Zuri Alfred in Grade 4 was commended for her outstanding rendition on the piano and vocals with her musical medley, ‘1800’s to 2000’s’, which I believe she had assembled and collated herself. This year, we had our first student vote, which was named as the ‘Public Award’. Our children have got great taste and appreciation at the best of times, but they came together to cast their votes and I was pleased to announce a further two winners who came in joint first position. Henry Strutt from Grade 4 was commended for his impressive dice stacking skills and performance and Eliza Eldon Akhtar was our youngest winner from Grade 1 who was awarded for her graceful and magical freestyle dance routine. Well done to everyone that took part – you were quite brilliant. I can’t help but think back to four members of Grade 3 who chose to sing ‘Speechless’ by Naomi Scott and the pervading line from the song – ‘don’t you underestimate me; you know I won’t go speechless’. This could not encapsulate the spirit of this captivating talent production more – what a way to end the term!
The roof of 7E96 Street barely had time to settle for Tuesday after our 3rd Spanish Day on Monday, orchestrated and led by Ms Diana Gener. The colours, heritage, culture and vibrancy of Mexico were celebrated in all its glory and the dancing, creative arts and music were outstanding. Our thanks to the mariachi band, ‘Nuevo Amanecer’, the dancers, Alda and Joel and artists, Tony, Matthew and Blanka. The building looked incredible, and the children will remember this day for many years to come and these types of enriching learning opportunity are so valuable for young students (and teachers!)
So, we draw to another end of term and look forward to the Spring Break. I am away in the UK for the first week and then am back to enjoy a week of New York City in the Spring. I look forward to seeing you at our final Family Assembly tomorrow at 9am – hold on to your veintisiete, it looks set to be a good finale. See you all there!
