No less than 8 Isle of Wight schools will be taking part in J Rock and Rock Challenge events and finals at the Portsmouth Guildhall next week.
Christ the King College will be representing the Isle of Wight at the Open Finals on Thursday, having qualified as a high scoring runner up after placing second at their Portsmouth heat. Their piece, ‘From the Shackles of Oppression, 26th February 1718’ won them Awards of Excellence in Concept, Set Design & Function, Costuming Character, Entertainment, Lighting and Stage Crew.
There will also be Island schools attending the Southern Premier Final on Saturday. Sandown Bay Academy and Ryde Academy both retained their Premier School status in 2017 and have automatically qualified for a place at the final. Sandown Bay had a particularly successful 2017, which saw them place third at the final. They will be hoping to repeat this success in 2018, when placing within the top 3 means a school will qualify for the National Final.
Stenbury Federation, Medina House School and Nine Acres Primary School will all be competing in J Rock on Monday, whilst The Bay C of E Primary School and Federation of Nettlestone and Newchurch will take to the stage on Tuesday.
Assistant Event Manager for the UK Rock Challenge, Charlotte Payne is excited for the finals to begin:
“It is great to see the continued enthusiasm of all the students and teachers involved in this years’ events. The quality of the performances has been so incredibly high and the standard delivered from each and every school is impeccable.
“One of my favourite things every year is seeing the diversity of the ideas which are tackled and this year there have been some amazing original themes! I wish all the school taking to the stage for the Southern Finals the best of luck!”
