HOUSE SYSTEM

ANGELOU WIN HOUSE DANCE

In the Spring 1 term the major house competition was House Dance! Each house was assigned a movie genre and tasked to create a performance inspired by a film within that genre. On Thursday 10th February, over 100 students competed in the finals in performances to Years 7, 8 and 9, with the final show taking place in front of a panel of independent judges. We were delighted to be joined by special guest judge Luke Rittner CBE, Chief Exectuive of our academic partner, the Royal Aademy of Dance. The show was hosted by our Director of Performing & Creative Arts, Mr Dunning, and opened with the duet by Danielle (9 Turing) and Anna (9 Euler), which won second place at KAA’s Got Talent 2021 in the Autumn term. Honeyball were the first house to perform. Their genre was animated films, and they based their dance on the movie ‘Shrek’, set to the music “Holding Out for a Hero”. It was full of sparkle and magic, with glitter covered outfits and perfectly timed confetti canons! The choreography included solos by Julia (13 Maathai) and a duet by Ana (11 Truth) and Stephanie (11 Bonhoeffer). The Head Judge Luke Rittner’s said: “A terrific opening, real enthusiasm. It was a big cast and they moved in unison really beautifully. I was really delighted with everything I saw.” The second house to take to the stage were Pankhurst, performing a James Bond themed dance for their action movie theme. Set to the 007 theme music, Pankhurst’s slick performance included solos from Aarmi (7 Armstrong) and Kaya (7 Mason). Royal Academy of Dance teacher Jemma called for a round of applause for Kaya for stepping in at the last moment on the solo, and congratulated on the soloists for the tension they built up towards the end of the piece. Luke Rittner said “the communication of the theme was absolutely brilliant and the choreographic elements were really first class.” The third performance was Franklin, with their sci-fi theme inspired by the Star Wars films. Cloaked like a Jedi and a Sith, Hannah (12 Roosevelt) and Lirio (11 Hume)

performed solo and duets throughout the performance, supported by chorus groups of Jedi and Sith dancers. Judge Gemma said “The duets at the very beginning had excellent dynamics and the travelling sets from group to group had beautiful physical skills used in the alignment and core strength of the grand jete and the split leaps.” The final performance was Angelou’s horror-themed number inspired by the movie “It”. The eerie atmosphere from start to finish was electric, the full chorus sported blood-stained clothing as they persued the four principal dancers, Willow (7 Knowles), Sarah (7 Knowles), Rami (7 Taylor) and Anastasiia (7 Taylor), who wore the iconic yellow raincoats and carried red balloons. The chorus performed a number of lifts in their pursuit of the four lead dancers, including Dominick (7 Knowles), who also contorted into a number of shapes to add thematically to the eerie atmosphere. The chilling choreography was set to a dubstep mix of horror and circus sounds and Angelou had the largest company with 44 dancers! Judge Jemma said “I actually got shivers! The strength of the work was in the story telling and excellent use of formations and really impressive acrobatics throughout.” Luke Rittner added that “There was a real sense of fear, a real sinister feeling that you conveyed. It was a fantastic communication of the theme, and a real sense of originality in the way of you were conveying it.” The judges submitted their final scores to Mr Dunning, ready for the big reveal during the extended tutor time celebrations on the final day of the Spring 1 term. It was no surprise to most that ANGELOU were given first place by the judges, with a total of 77 points. In join second place, Honeyball and Pankhurst both scored level on 70 points. Franklin was placed fourth with 64 points.

SPRING 1 INTERIM HOUSE COMPETITIONS

MFL Spelling Bee

WINNER: FRANKLIN

On Thursday 3rd February, students competed in a spelling bee testing their linguistic skills across a range of different modern foreign languages. It was especially lovely to see Sixth Formers working with the lower school students.

Swimming Gala

WINNER: FRANKLIN

On Friday 4th February, over 80 students competed in our interim swimming gala. With points totalled for each of the race, Franklin were named champios and won the 5,000 house points.

Indoor Athletics

WINNERS:

FRANKLIN & HONEYBALL

The Indoor Athletics comeptition was split across two weeks after school in February. Students competed in a range of atheltics activities and Franklin & Honeyball tied on 36 points!

KAAraoke

WINNER: ANGELOU

On Monday 24th January, students competed in a karaoke sing-off to win 5,000 points for their house. Dominik and Indigo (7 Knowles) were placed first and won Angelou the top spot!

Poetry Slam

WINNER: PANKHURST

During KAA Literary Week the English department held a Poetry slam during lunch time on Friday 11th March. Pankhurst won with Tima’s moving poem about the conflict in Ukraine.

Science Week

WINNERS: HONEYBALL

During British Science Week in March, Honeyball proved the most successful scientists across both the egg drop and rocket building competitions during lunch times and bagged first place!

Trampolining

WINNERS: HONEYBALL

On Thursday 24th March, the PE department hosted an interim trampolining competition after school. Honeyball came out victorious and took the 5,000 points.

SPRING 2 INTERIM HOUSE COMPETITIONS

Maths Countdown

WINNER: PANKHURST

On Thursday 10th March the maths department hosted a maths countdown showdown in the theatre to test students mathematical prowess. Pankhurst won with 31 points and neat & clear working - a mathematician’s dream!

HONEYBALL WIN HOUSE DRAMA

The major house competition of the spring two term was House Drama. Each house was given a different Roald Dahl “Revolting Rhyme” to perform. Students rehearsed twice a week for two months over the half term before the finals on Wednesday 30th March in front of guest judges Matthew Jay Ryan and Natalie Ann Boyd. Angelou’s story was “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. They chose to perform their rhyme using entirely physical theatre instead of props. Natalie said she “was really impressed by the physicality of the performance.” Franklin’s rhyme was “The Three Little Pigs” and judge Matthew Ryan said “it was so clever the way you changed the piece with little details that fitted into Ladbroke Grove.” Honeyball performed “Jack and The Beanstalk” and the judge Natalie said the teamwork of the cast “was like watching a West End show.” The last performance was Pankhurst’s interpretation of “Cinderella”. The judges were impressed with the individual characters of each narrator, as well as the lead performance from Gabriel (10 Beckett) as Cinderella. Thank you to Dastin (10 Graham) for running all of the sound and lighting for the competition, and to the Heads of House and Drama teachers for their coordination of rehearsals throughout the Spring term. The results of the competition were announced in the End of Term assembly, revelaing Honeyball as the winners with 45 points out of a possible 50. The 20,000 house points for winning the major competition helped to propel them into second place at the end of the Spring 2 term.