“82% of people believe the arts help children achieve more at school”
Music
Thinking back to my own school days when the choir was put
together annually, just in time for the Christmas Concert, and the
weekly school band rehearsals doubled as an instrumental
lesson, I am continually impressed by the standards of
excellence achieved by our students and the level of
commitment they give to the Arts, week in and week out
throughout the year.
Music as a subject extends well beyond the classroom
at Fairfield as our extra curricular groups continue to
promote the school both within the local community
and beyond. During the last twelve months our
students have worked with musicians specialising
in Latin American music, Banghra, Samba and
musical composition.
Highlights over the past few years have
included performances in St. Mark's Basilica,
Venice and at The Tongling Bronze Festival,
China, where our students performed live to
an audience of between 20,000 and 30,000
people. The confidence displayed by our
students at this particular event is something I
will never forget and is, in itself, testimony to
the way in which the arts affect the development
of people who are willing to work as part
of a team.
We also celebrate our continued success in
external examinations. At GCSE level, 93% of the
students in our year I I group last year achieved A* -
C grades. Practical examinations with The Associated
Board of The Royal Schools of Music continue to gain
100% pass rate and it is noticeable that our students are
now taking and passing the higher level examinations. Several of
our students will be attending workshops with The National Youth
Orchestra later this year, while others accepted places with The Halle Youth
Choir following successful auditions.
In the near future we will be taking part in 'Step Up', a 10 day Arts Festival
hosted by The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Equally, working with Sefton
Arts College, we will be performing on stage at The Bridgewater Hall in
July.
Fairfield High School is now a Specialist Arts College due, in no small part,
to those pupils who have given so much of their time and energy to the
work of the Performing Arts Department. As they continue to work with a
dedicated group of teachers, we can only move forward. We have many
fine ambassadors for Fairfield within the pupils that can be seen
performing on stage at any of our events. They display a tremendous
sense of self-discipline and confidence, qualities which will stay with them throughout their lives; qualities they have worked hard to acquire.