Issue 9 - Robert Smyth Academy · Issue 9 Burnmill Road Market Harborough Leicestershire ......

Newsletter Date Performing Arts

Newsletter NINTH

November 2015

Issue 9

Burnmill Road

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7JG

T: 01858 440770

F: 01858 440771

E: [email protected]

W: www.rsacademy.co.uk

ROBERT SMYTH

ACADEMY

Contributors Mrs Petersen

Mrs Routledge

Mr Hughes Jake Bentley

Jess O’Brien

Tom Devlin

Georgia Whittle

Layout Mr Wells

Editor Mr Atkins

Welcome to the ninth edition of the Performing Arts Newsletter, and welcome to

Year 10 students and their parents who are joining us in the faculty this year. The summer term saw great emotional upheaval within the faculty as we said

“goodbye” to our dear friend, colleague and Head of Drama, ‘Bloom’. Losing

Bloom was extremely sad and upsetting for everybody linked to the Academy and

the surrounding area. Her passion for performance, character, personality, love

and devotion to her students will always be remembered and felt by all who knew

her. David Hadland, our previous Performing Arts technician has moved down to

Brighton to open up a recording and rehearsal studio with some friends. We wish

him well and good luck in his new venture. We therefore welcome our new

Performing Arts technician, Ed Hull. Ed is a graduate in Music Technology from

Coventry University and has settled in well within the faculty. We have also welcomed our new part-time Drama teachers, Claire Parsons and

Kyle Eastwood. Both bring with them years of acting and theatre experience, as

well as teaching and examining experience at both GCSE and A level. Mrs Petersen decided at the end of last term to relinquish her role as Head of

Performing Arts so she could focus more time on the Music department here at

Robert Smyth. Mr Hughes has taken up the Head of Faculty role for this year. Our GCSE and A level results improved again with Music achieving 94% A*-C

with 30% A*/A grades at GCSE. AS and A2 grades in Music were well above the

national average and we continue to lead the way for schools in Leicestershire in

these subjects. A2 Music had a 100% A*-B pass rate and A2 Music Technology

had an 80% A*/A pass rate. Drama had an impressive run at A2, with the written

papers being well above the national average. Dance made excellent progress

with 80% A*-C at GCSE. We also now have our very own website courtesy of our kind sponsors, ‘The

Ideal Marketing Company’. Many thanks to Alastair Campbell and Jess Shailes

for all their time and help in creating the site. For all information of past and

upcoming events please go to www.rsaperformingarts.co.uk There is lots going on in the faculty this term including our annual Arts Week,

which has happened and will feature a full write-up in next term’s edition. We

have the CAIRS concert in memory of Bloom on Thursday, 19th November, the

annual Christmas Concert on Tuesday, 1st December and Soul Patrol and the

Jazz Band are performing again at Harborough’s ‘Christmas Lights Switch On’

event on The Square in Harborough on Friday, 27th November. This newsletter is intended to be informative both with details of past as well as

future events, as well as a celebration of the achievements of RSA students

within the performing arts disciplines. If you have any comments or suggestions,

or any items you would like to be considered for inclusion, we would like to hear

from you; please email [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.rsaperformingarts.co.uk


Performing Arts Newsletter NINTH EDITION 2015

Year 5 Days On Thursday 18th and Friday 19th June, Robert Smyth

Academy welcomed over 400 Year 5 children from 11

local primary schools to an unforgettable experience day.

The children participated in five exciting sessions across

the subject range in the academy. The atmosphere was

wonderful and the day was thoroughly enjoyed by the

children, the Year 12 RSA students who helped out and

the staff at the academy.

The Performing Arts Faculty had teamed up with the

English Faculty to put on a session in The Max relating to

Oliver Twist. The Year 5 children were first introduced to the concept of character by members of the English Faculty and

discussed in groups the different kind of characters which props can suggest. Following this the children took part in a

singing and dance workshop focusing on the song ‘Consider Yourself’ from the musical version of Oliver. Mr Hughes led

the singing workshops with Mrs Petersen on the piano accompanied by a sixth form band, whilst Mrs Routledge and Mr

Monk led the dance workshops.

Jess The Filmmaker Year 10 drama student Jess O’Brien has been heavily involved in film making recently. In this edition of the newsletter she

tells us about what she has been doing.

I have been acting since 2012, however in

early 2014 I was cast in a short film called

Flawless with production company,

Badshoes Films. The film is five minutes long

and focuses on the relationship between a

father and daughter. Since then Flawless has

been accepted into 22 film festivals all over

the world. This includes the Cannes film

festival, the Lanzarote film festival (which we

attended) and Aesthetica festival in York which

is BAFTA affiliated and, recently, the film was

BAFTA approved.

In the summer of 2014, after doing my second film, where I played twins, I began writing my

own short film called Coping. Coping is a 9-minute film about a young girl who loses her two

friends in a car accident and the film follows her as she copes with the loss. From July 2014 to

July 2015, I wrote, cast, directed, acted and helped edit Coping, which was premiered at the Phoenix cinema in Leicester

on July 10th to an audience of over 200. Recently, it has been accepted into four festivals including Adelaide in Australia.

Jess O’Brien, Year 10

Christmas Concert

The annual RSA Christmas Concert, which is always a sell-out event, will

take place on Tuesday 1st December at 7 pm in the Main Hall. The

concert will feature students from across years 10-13 performing in a

range of styles: popular, jazz and classical. The featured acts will be a

number of A level Music soloists as well as the AS Music class and all

the academy’s extra-curricular music ensembles: string ensemble, flute

choir, flute quartet, saxophone ensemble, brass ensemble, Versatile

Voices choir, folk group, jazz band, big band and Soul Patrol.

Tickets will be priced at £5 adults and £3 Under 19s and will go on sale

from Monday 2nd November from Student Services. We advise

purchasing tickets early to avoid disappointment.

VAT off Instruments Students who wish to purchase a new musical instrument for use with their musical studies in the academy can take

advantage of the scheme offered where the cost of purchasing the instrument will not include VAT. Students have to

purchase the instrument through the academy and a form must be completed and signed by

authorised academy staff before purchasing the instrument. No VAT refunds can be given retrospectively. Further details

and an application form can be downloaded from the academy website under ‘Parents’ -> ‘Letters home’.


Want to come to a Family Concert with LSO? Every term the music department offers students and their parents the opportunity to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra

in concert at De Montfort Hall for just £5. The first trip this year is on Saturday, 7th November and the concert, entitled

‘Music Takes Flight’, will feature orchestral pieces by Dvorak, Vaughan Williams, Saint-Saens, Respighi and Stravinsky

representing different birds.

The second concert is on Sunday 21st February at 3 pm (last Sunday of February half term). This concert is a real family

concert entitled ‘Boats, Planes and Trains’. This is a great opportunity to introduce younger family members to some real

classics as we take you on a tour through film music, opera and other favourites – all with a train, plane or boat theme.

The programme will include lots of short, exciting pieces:

Dance Congratulations Congratulations to Charlie Tatman who entered the All England Finals dance competition in the summer. The finals

were held at the Hackney Empire in London and Charlie was awarded third position. This makes him the third best

dancer in the country! What an achievement!

Congratulations to Abigail Taylor who has just begun her training at Central School of Ballet in London. I know she

was very excited to begin her professional dance journey and to gain a place at such a prestigious school is an

amazing achievement. We wish her all the very best of luck!!

GCSE students are attending Curve Theatre at the end of the month to see Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed Sleeping

Beauty production. This is a gothic romance and is sure to be an enjoyable show!!

CONGRATULATIONS to all GCSE dance students who took their Year 11 exams in the summer. The results were

outstanding with 80% achieving A*- C. All of the hard work was rewarded! A special mention to Helen Spacie and

Abigail Taylor for achieving A* grades.

A big Welcome to the new members of RSA Dance Company, Alice Benstead, Lottie Edwards, Lydia Smith and

Harriet Emery. Welcome back to Charle Tatman, Beth Lucyszyn, Anna Cadwallader, Izzy Blount, Abi Ruder and

Helen Spacie. We are working hard on our new dance piece for Mass Movement 2016 performing at Curve Theatre.

Wagner: Overture, The Flying Dutchman Gershwin: Walking the Dog (clarinet solo)

Villa-Lobos: Little Train of the Caipara Rachmaninov: Vocalise (clarinet solo)

Adams: Short Ride in a fast machine Coates: Dambusters March

Mendelssohn: Calm Sea & Prosperous Voyage Monti: Czardas (clarinet solo)

Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble Bee (solo) Williams: Harry Potter

Badelt: Pirates of the Caribbean Grainer: Dr Who Music

Sargent: Valsette

It's full steam ahead with this exhilarating family concert! The speed, the noise and the excitement of all things air, sea

and rail make for a perfect platform to entertain and wow an audience. With music that so encapsulates the thrill of

travel, the Leicester Symphony Orchestra invites you to climb aboard and strap yourself in! The concert, in aid of CLIC

Sargent, will feature the famous clarinettist and former BBC Young Musician of the Year winner, Emma Johnson. Emma is

a patron of CLIC Sargent and acts as an ambassador for the charity. All RSA students and their parents are invited to

attend. See Mrs Petersen for a trip letter.

Tom’s Hour Opener My goal of the Year 12 enrichment week in June was to create hour opener jingles for the local radio station HFM. I had no

idea they would become a success and be used commercially and frequently on the radio station, however I am still

extremely pleased about the results. I spent the first day doing lots of research on hour openers and how they are

constructed. After doing my research I then moved on to composing my jingle. I sat down at a piano for the following day

and composed a jingle. I decided to do two different versions that varied in genre. I spent the rest of the week in the

studio recording my Microkorg (synthesiser) and my performers (a big thank you to Jake Cartwright and Georgia Whittle for

their time and performance in my project). After these extra parts had been recorded I mixed and mastered it before

sending it off to HFM. They were very happy with my openers and have been using them every day since. Overall I feel that

this was a great opportunity and has helped me decide if audio, music and sound production is something I would want to

do as a career. This has made me more determined to follow my ambitions in my dream career.

Tom Devlin, Year 13

Drama Congratulations Well done to Ashley Cook who was offered places at LCPA (Leicester College of Performing Arts and also at Melton and Northampton to study a BTec in Musical Theatre. Ashley has taken up her place at Melton from this September and is thoroughly enjoying her course.


Four Countries Music Tour 2015 27 students from the RSA Jazz Band, Big Band and Soul Patrol went on a 5-day tour to Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and

Germany from 29th June to 3rd July where they performed three concerts at Drielandenpunt, OLV Plein in Maastrict, and Place

D’Armes in Luxembourg City. Year 13 student and bass player Jake Bentley has written his account of the tour: Alas, once more it has reached that

point in the year when the nights have

drawn in, work is upon us, and

summer’s excesses yearn to be

reflected upon. Certainly the Music Tour

was one such excess. With Mrs

Petersen at the helm, the students of

Robert Smyth found themselves guided

eastward across the rugged Flemish

plain to the charming little city of

Hasselt. This was to be the focal point

for the tour. After settling in on the Monday, Tuesday

was a day of crossing borders. Our first

stop, the German city of Aachen,

intrigued with its cobbled streets and

medieval cathedral complete with

mosaics of rich blues and golds.

A concert at the Drielandenpunt (three

countries point) marked the afternoon.

Despite playing to only a small crowd, the gig was to provide invaluable practice for later dates in the tour. Plus the park’s

maze, complete with impressive water features, ensured everyone returned home soggy but content. With the weather rising to a sticky 37 degrees, a Wednesday spent in the quaint university town of Maastricht was to be

the most challenging day of the week. Despite the elements, valiant sets were delivered by all to a good size audience in

one of the town’s many leafy squares. A much welcome afternoon’s rest followed, during which we explored further the

mazy narrow side streets and became well acquainted with the town’s main export - the composer Andre Rieu. Bowling

brought the hazy hours to a close but with competitive spirits running high, the less said about it the

better. By the final day we were well accustomed to country hopping, so stepping off

the coach onto the tarmac of Luxembourg City came as no surprise. A

morning visit to the Casemates - an intricate labyrinth of caves and tunnels

embedded into the side of the city’s lush, green valley - was an interesting

experience to say the least. But what we were really searching for in this land

quite alien would wait until late afternoon when we were granted the

privilege of playing in the Place d’Armes, a notable and bustling square within

the city. The concert lingers on my mind in particular; carrying emotional

weight due to the poignant knowledge of the upper sixth students’ imminent

departure whilst also manifesting humour in the form of Andy Blackwell’s

impressive solo tambourine wizardry. Before long we were back on the

coach, which took us out of the city, weaving its way through the surrounding

coniferous-carpeted expanse as a fine mist descended upon the land. Many were down, understandably upset and

resentful that tomorrow spelt departure from the continent. Yet in that one ethereal moment, it became clear that the

tour - its memories and occurrences - was an internal force; one that would prevail through the people who lived through

it. No, we can never relive the past but we can treasure such a significant trip through the potency of our memories;

collectively or individually.

Jake Bentley, Year 13


Voice Electric Guitar

Chloe Williams Grade 8 Merit Matt Moir Grade 4 Pass

Saxophone Modern Dance

Toska Wonfor Grade 8 Distinction Lydia Smith Grade 4

Elli Randon Grade 8 Distinction Theory

Jazz Piano Rebecca Iliffe Grade 5 Distinction

Taran Mann Grade 4 Distinction Molly Sykes Grade 5 Merit

Tom Jenkins Grade 5 Merit

Andrew Martin Grade 5 Merit

GCSE Music Concert VII

Thursday 15th October saw the return of our GCSE Music Concert series. Featured as part of the Academy’s ‘Arts week’,

the concert saw a packed Max enjoy an eclectic mix of styles and performances. This concert saw a first for the GCSE

Music Concerts; we began with a class performance from a Year 10 class. This is the first time this has happened at the

first concert of the year! The class was our Edexcel class performing one of the set works they study, ‘All Blues’ by Miles

Davis. This is a complex piece featuring heavily extended chords and containing improvisation at its core. Our improvised

soloists in the performance were Taran Mann and Charlie Hilton on piano, who also both performed piano solos later in

the concert. Elsewhere in the programme Abi Wright performed a solo on the French horn whilst Hope Haynes-Coote,

Emily Moore and Sejal Assan all performed flute solos. We had a rock band featuring Matt Moir, Kieran King, James

Dixon-Boarder and Adam Pugh, perform ‘Seven Nation Army’. Holly Barnett performed a saxophone solo and Rebecca

Alder played a piano solo. We had a variety of excellent solo singers on stage including Mae Dudley, Lola Pap, Bronwen

Herdman, Ella Soysa, Adam Pugh, Ben Maclean and Amirah Bobat. The crowd was a great mix of students,

parents, and family members who responded with great encouragement and applause for our performers throughout the

evening.

Practical & Theory Grade Exam Passes

Congratulations to the following students who passed their grade exams last term. This information has been

provided by peripatetic teachers, parents and students. For inclusion in future newsletters details of exam passes can be

emailed to [email protected].



Grants for musical instrument purchase The EMI Music Sound Foundation offers grants to students in full time education to fund musical instrument and/or

equipment purchase. In the past several RSA students have been successful in applying for funding. The foundation

accepts applications twice a year and the deadline for the next round is in early February 2016. For full details of the

scheme and to download an application form please visit www.emimusicsoundfoundation.com.

Georgia at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Georgia Whittle, who is studying both A level Theatre Studies and Music, writes about her performance experience with

Youth Music Theatre UK at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In the summer of 2015 I experienced a great opportunity by participating in a three-week course with Youth Music

Theatre (YMT). This included two weeks’ intense training

followed by eight days of performing at the Edinburgh

Fringe Festival. The new musical was called ‘Not the End of

the World’written by Geraldine McCaughrean. It is based

on Noah’s Ark and how he and his family face difficult

circumstances whilst on the ark, however, it is from the

daughter's perspective - Timna. Before going to Edinburgh we all had a brief five-day

introduction to the course in Birmingham during May half

term. This included meeting and getting to know everyone

on the course, starting to stage the musical and to

audition for our roles in the production - I received the role

of Timna 9 (a ‘demon’ inside Timna’s head) and the

understudy of Sarah. After these five days, we were all

eager about going to Edinburgh and to see each other

once again. On the 25th July, I made my way up to Edinburgh, on a very

long and tedious train journey. As I arrived at the station with two other members on the course (and waiting to meet the

others) I remember feeling excited yet nervous to see everyone again and to start rehearsing. For the first eight days we were staying at Fettes College , a building that inspired J.K. Rowling to create Hogwarts. When

we arrived we started rehearsing straight away. Everyday consisted of 12 hours of rehearsals (from 9 am till 9 pm), and as

exhausting as this was, I thoroughly enjoyed it as it gave me a taste of what I will hopefully be doing in the future. One evening the team decided to do a cabaret night which enabled us to showcase our talents - from singing, to dancing,

to playing instruments. I decided to participate by doing a dance solo. As nerve racking and scary as this was, I had such

fun showing the team what else I could do. We had two days off and had the freedom to do whatever we wanted - you’ll be disappointed to know that I didn’t do

anything interesting, except from a bit of shopping! Although I didn’t do much cultural exploring, I must tell you that

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Once we’d moved out of Fettes, we then moved to Warrender Park Crescent, where we stayed in Uni halls. This gave us

the experience of university life - living independently, cooking and buying dinner for ourselves. In my flat there were three

girls, including me, and throughout the rest of our time there I was basically the mother of the household, as I was the

eldest (I did not mind having this role). Even though we had moved

we still went back to Fettes every day to rehearse as we used their

auditorium. It was the 7th August and it was finally opening night (well, day).

Nobody could contain their excitement as all of our hard work and

dedication was about to pay off. As there are so many productions

going on in the Fringe, every performance wasn’t going to have a big

audience but as more and more people heard about our musical -

from people tweeting, handing out flyers and performing in the streets

of the Royal Mile, the audiences grew and our performances improved

daily. The musical achieved five star reviews from the British Theatre

Guide and Edinburgh Guide. The author of the book also came to see

our performance and was thrilled with the production. As our performances finished around 4.30pm every day, we then had

the freedom to go and watch other performances of our choice. This was also an experience in itself as there is anything

and everything to see in the Fringe. Overall, I had a great time, meeting new friends, gaining new skills and boosting my confidence. YMT audition around the

country every January and I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in any kind of performing to audition.

http://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org

Georgia Whittle, Year 13

http://www.emimusicsoundfoundation.com

http://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org


Performing Arts Clubs - Autumn Term 2015

Monday GCSE DANCE

DROP-IN 10.25-10.45 The Max Mrs Routledge

ARTS COUNCIL 10.25-10.45 Music Block Mrs Petersen

ADVANCED

FLUTES (Year13) 1.00-1.30 Music Block Kate Cartwright

STRING

ENSEMBLE 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block Mike Shaw

RSA DANCE COMPANY

1.00 – 1.30 The Max Mrs Routledge

Tuesday SAX

ENSEMBLE 10.30 – 11.00 Music Block Francine Warner

FOLK GROUP 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block 6th form student led

COMEDY CLUB 12.45 – 1.30 Hammond Studio Chris Wells

JAZZ BAND 3.15 – 5.00 Music Block Mrs Petersen

Wednesday VERSATILE

VOICES (choir) 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block Debbie Smith

Thursday FLUTE CHOIR (Years 10 - 12)

10.30 – 11.00 Music Block Kate Cartwright

GCSE MUSIC

DROP-IN 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block Mr Hughes

BIG BAND 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block Mrs Petersen

Friday PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE

10.30 – 11.00 Music Block Darron McHarg

ADVANCED BRASS 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block John Gornall

GRADE 5 MUSIC

THEORY 1.00 – 1.30 Music Block Mrs Petersen

SOUL PATROL 3.15 – 5.00 Music Block Mrs Petersen

COMEDY CLUB 3.15 – 4.20 Hammond Studio Chris Wells

Audition/selection is only for Soul Patrol, Big Band, and The Dance Company. To join any of the other groups simply turn up at the next rehearsal.

Burnmill Road

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7JG

T: 01858 440770

F: 01858 440771

E: [email protected]

W: www.rsacademy.co.uk

ROBERT SMYTH

ACADEMY

Visit us online: http://www.rsacademy.co.uk

Performing Arts Events Calendar 2015

AUTUMN TERM

Saturday, 7th November – 7.30 pm

Trip to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra

Venue: De Montfort Hall, Leicester

Sunday, 15th November

Big Band in NCBF Regional Round

Venue: Nottingham High School

Thursday, 19th November – 7.00 pm

CAIRS Concert – Main Hall

Friday, 27th November – 5.45 pm until 7.00 pm

Jazz Band & Soul Patrol at Christmas Light Switch-On event

Venue: Market Harborough, Main Square

Tuesday, 1st December – 7.00 pm

Christmas Concert – Main Hall

SPRING TERM

Wednesday, 10th February – 7.00 pm

GCSE Music Concert – The Max

Sunday, 21st February – 3.00 pm



Wednesday, 23rd March – 7.00 pm

Spring Concert – Main Hall

Tuesday 12th April — 7.00 pm (time tbc)

Dance Show – The Max

SUMMER TERM

Friday, 20th May – 7.00 pm (time tbc)

Upper Sixth Leavers’ Concert – The Max

Saturday, 21st May – 7.30 pm



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Issue 9 - Robert Smyth Academy · Issue 9 Burnmill Road Market Harborough Leicestershire ......

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