Education Round-Up
School to sing at Britten celebration in Norway S
olihull School is to take part in worldwide celebrations for the centenary of the great British composer Benjamin Britten. The Boys’ Choir at the independent school in the West Midlands will be singing in Britten’s famous War Requiem at the prestigious Bergen International Festival in Norway on June 5. The 10 to 13-year-olds will be teaming up with the Bergen Boys’ Choir as the only UK school invited to perform the Boys’ Choir part of the powerful work for orchestra, soloists and choirs. The internationally renowned American Andrew Litton will be conducting the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bergen Grieghallen in the first- ever performance of the work at the festival.
Solihull School, which also has a Girls’ Choir and a Chamber Choir made up of Men and Girls, was invited to sing in Bergen through its close association with CBSO Chorus Director Simon Halsey.
The world-leading conductor of choral repertoire helped launch Solihull School’s Former Choristers’ Association in 2012 by rehearsing and conducting a special choral evensong in the School Chapel.
Solihull School has a long association with Benjamin Britten, born in November 1913, as its choristers sang the Boys’ Choir part of his Spring Symphony at its first Birmingham performance at Birmingham Town Hall in 1960.
Britten’s War Requiem was written to celebrate the building and consecration of Coventry Cathedral which was opened in 1962 by HM The Queen on the same day that she visited Solihull School’s newly built Chapel.
Oliver Walker, Solihull School Organist and Choirmaster, said: “Being invited to take part in the Bergen Festival is a terrific honour for the School and is sure to increase even further its outstanding reputation for choral music.” Solihull School’s Chapel Choir released a CD of Christmas music last year and its Chamber Choir sang Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral recently.
uwww.solsch.org.uk
St Albans School sixth formers receive 16 Oxbridge offers S
t Albans School is celebrating another landmark of academic success, after its sixth formers attracted an impressive total of 16 offers between them to study at the world-renowned Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Fourteen boys and two girls were offered places at Oxbridge, building on the total of 14 offers received by the school last year. This year’s offers cover a broad spectrum of subjects: Anthropology, Biology, Classics, Economics, Engineering, English, Maths, Modern Languages and Natural Sciences.
Headmaster Andrew Grant says that variety reflects the diversity of intellectual interests among St Albans students: “Their success in achieving so many offers from two of the most demanding universities in the world, in a range of different subjects, not all of them in the curriculum, reflects not only the quality of teaching across all subjects at St Albans School, but a culture that encourages intellectual curiosity beyond what is normally taught in school.”
He adds that every department is committed to students’ UCAS success: “The rigorous subject-specific support from each department, by way of extension and enrichment lessons and the guidance and mock interview practice provided by the Sixth Form team, have again paid off this year.
“We are very proud of the achievements not only of these 16 academic stars but of the many others who will achieve comparable results and go on to successful careers at other great universities.” u01727 855521
uwww.st-albans.herts.sch.uk
30
www.education-today.co.uk
March 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32