Children create song and dance at school’s carols contest

SIX schools performed in the second annual Kenton Carols event.

Children from Badgemore, Valley Road, Rupert House, and Sacred Heart primary schools in Henley and Kidmore End Primary School took to the stage at the New Street venue on Monday last week.

They sang a number of Christmas songs to a near-capacity audience, which enthusiastically applauded each rendition.

Theatre manager Lottie Pheasant, who took over the role in March last year, came up with the concept to mark the end of the school term and the start of the pantomime season.

Each school performed two or three carols of their choice before coming together to perform a finale which comprised a performance of All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey and Jingle Bells.

The final songs were accompanied by dances which the children had been taught by Steph Maxwell who is on the board of trustees at the Kenton and also runs the dance school Divas and Dudes.

At the end of the show Mayor Rory Hunt was invited to pick a school to receive the Mayor’s Choice Award, which he presented to Valley Road School for its performance of Silent Night, It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas and Frosty the Snowman, in which the children used a prop hat and stylised movement to illustrate the story.

Councillor Hunt said that it had been a difficult job to pick the winner. He said: “It’s wonderful to see so many schools here and see so many smiling faces this close to Christmas and, hopefully, the prospect of a few weeks without homework.

“As a councillor, you end up having to make some very difficult decisions and tonight is no exception.

“Every choir here has exceeded my expectations. I had to be very picky and I chose Valley Road as the winning school on the grounds that every single one of them came on to the stage smiling and they all sang beautifully.”

Cllr Hunt gave his thanks to all who took part in organising the event before wishing everyone a happy Christmas.

He said: “It can’t be easy managing so many people backstage, making sure they’re on at the right time and they did a fantastic job.

“It’s a great community initiative. I understand it has grown since last year and, hopefully, it’s going to continue to grow and continue for many years.”

Ms Maxwell said that she was very proud of the pupils who had managed to pull the finale together with little rehearsal.

She said: “All of them were fantastic. They were so focused, nothing fazed them. We changed a few little bits at the last minute and they were brilliant.

“It started back in late October, early November when I visited all the schools individually to teach them the choreography for the final numbers.

“They work on their own numbers themselves and they do as much as they can, but the first time they do it all together and there is about 65 of them on stage is the day of the show. It’s
amazing what they have achieved because some of them are only in Year 1 at school so they’re very young.”

Ms Pheasant, who lives in Shiplake, said that the number of schools participating in the event had increased compared with last year.

She said: “It was amazing, I loved it. For me, it really encapsulated the community spirit here, having so many primary schools involved. We had five last year and then six this year, so it would be great if we had even more schools involved next year.

“Last year was our first ever event and after I had this little idea, I then convinced Steph to do it with me. This year’s performances are even more professional than last year.”