Students from the 6th form, Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 have ventured for the first time into the world of graded music examinations. Working with their singing teacher Hillary Osborne and accompanied at the piano by Mr Egan,  the students completed London College of Music grade examinations from grade 2 right through to Grade 8. Music examinations at grade 6 and above are recognised nationally and provide students with additional level 2 and level 3 qualifications as well as university entry points.

Because this is a first for us (there will be more to come), Professor John Howard, Director of Examinations from London College of Music/University of West London, kindly offered to visit us and present the certificates to our students. On Tuesday, we held a recital of the students work followed by a presentation ceremony where certificates were presented to students by Professor John Howard and Mr Heritage.

Suffice to say, professor Howard was extremely impressed with the students' performance and was delighted to present the certificates to the students. He reminded students of the importance of celebrating their achievements in music and the positive benefits music can bring to the rest of their lives.

Frances Corker                  Grade VIII            Voice

Emily Sidall                        Grade VII             Voice

Courtney White                Grade VII             Voice

After arriving at the winter garden to do some coaching with the world snooker coaches, we found the studio had been taken over by Radio 4.  The students had 30 mins play on the table in the winter gardens and then on behalf of World Snooker as an apology for not getting our snooker session they offered us tickets to the VIP balcony in the crucible to watch the semi-finals!

The students were taken into the crucible and were able to watch 7 fames of the Shaun Murphy Vs Barry Hawkins semi-final.  The students were a credit to the school and it was even commented upon that they were the quietest part of the audience.  The students loved the experience and are very excited. A massive thank you to Ms Brice and Miss Conlon for transport.

On Friday, 7 of our pupils attended the 2015 Sheffield Inter Schools Championship.  They initially entered into a competition individually, where Ben Ullyatt got knocked out in the first round, Dylan Billard, Jaimie-Lee Scaife, Sam Longstone, Mason Brown and Corbin Wild made it through to the top 32 before being knocked out and Sam Morley made it through to the top 16. 

In the afternoon session Corbin scored 6 in the 60 second challenge which placed him in the top 10, and as a team of 5 they beat all the other schools to become the Sheffield relay champions.

During the lunch interval and throughout the day the BBC were filming/interviewing them and you can see the footage over the coverage of the crucible, especially important the maths challenge that Steve Davis will be presenting as the tea time teaser.  On the day we as a school also had to nominate 3 students who had done particularly well throughout the scheme. Through this Dylan Billard managed to win himself a John Parris Cue (a highly regarded cue maker), to the top 16 players, which he was presented with by Steve Davis and John Parris.

The students were a credit to the school an really engaged with the professionals in a mature manner.

On Friday 10^th April, 38 Sheffield Springs students set sail for France; the home of fine cuisine, love and in our case, fun and adventure.

38 fantastic Springs students stayed at the beautiful Chateau du Broutel on the outskirts of the ancient village of Rue, here they challenged their selves and undertook activities such as climbing and abseiling, canoeing and raftbuilding and other teambuilding and challenging activities. Maybe one of the most challenging aspects of the trip was using the local language which everyone tried with various degrees of success and I am pleased to say the local cuisine went down well with most people with everyone trying the frogs legs and snails. Before we came home we explored Euro Disney where a good time was had by all before taking in the breath-taking sights of Paris in particular the Eiffel tower, the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre.

The students on the trip were a credit to themselves, their families and the school, they were absolutely brilliant young people who were willing to get involved, try new things and did so in a respectful and courteous manner. Well done each and every one of you.

Mr Cliffe

A group of year 10 music students have been working very hard to prepare for the first visit of the AMP awards at the O2 academy, Sheffield.

The team of musicians have composed two songs of their own to perform at the battle of the bands style event. The musicians, Max Henry, Cameron Hale, Shannon Edmond, Danielle Bello and Bradley Minott are ably supported by a business team headed up by Anna Turner and Joel Pashley. The business team have worked hard to promote the event and have enjoyed significant ticket sales for the event as well as selling merchandise on the night. This is the band’s first venture onto the big stage. No doubt we will be hearing more form My Chocolate Revel in the future!