The end of the House Year was, as usual, marked with its greatest competitions – the Talent Shows.

Featuring two acts from each house the Key Stage 3 show was a fantastic afternoon's entertainment with singers, dancers, musicians and the very first monologue, performed by Sam Williams of 7B. Special mention must go to all of Year seven who endured being utterly squashed at the front of the hall for the afternoon, and to all the students for being a really encouraging, supportive audience.

The judges had an incredibly hard choice to make when placing such multi-talented performers, but in the end placed dancer Jessica Wicks of 8H third alongside Alfie Hatt on guitar accompanying Fraser Hoenes both in 8N. In second place was Gabby Gonzales-Bello of 8D with an amazing singing voice, and the winner was a popular choice, Maxine Scott of 8T singing her own composition.

The standard of the KS4 show was equally superb and, although we may say it every year, the acts keep getting better. Despite backstage nerves, the competitors performed with huge confidence and provided great entertainment for everyone. The winners of this year's show are now seasoned veterans of many Talent shows who will hopefully continue to entertain us in the sixth form revue in the future. Joint third was Etta Williams 11H who sang and accompanied herself on the piano, and Molly Thompson 11S , another fabulous vocalist and ex-winner of a past show. Second place went to Izzy Brown of 11S with a fantastic Street Dance medley and this year's winner was Cora Laffey 11N who accompanied herself on the guitar and sang – when everyone sounded so good, coming first was a real triumph.

And finally the House Captains entertained us with Cinderella, a pantomime with awful puns, frankly terrifying ugly sisters and Thabs Nkomo playing the leading lady with great enthusiasm! Who said a great show needed lots of rehearsals? Many congratulations to Sam Hornsey for managing to control 15 co-directors!

The talent shows are always a great end to the school year – thanks very much to everyone who auditioned and took part, and a massive thanks to the Tech Team for providing their unflappable backstage support! We would otherwise have lessons to go to!