Uphill Village Academy took a group of pupils to a national event called Young Voices which brings together children to sing in the largest choirs in the world.

Young Voices provides an unrivalled musical opportunity for primary school children to perform all styles of music including folk, pop, rock and classical and is designed to unify children from across the region, boost their confidence and provide lifelong memories for them.

Teachers and pupils practise dance routines and learn songs for many months before coming together to perform in one of 4 arenas across the country, in London, Sheffield, Birmingham, or Manchester.

Uphill Village Academy pupils took part in Birmingham where 6,500 children from across the country performed together.

Over the past 25 years, Young Voices has staged full-scale arena concerts with first-class production values nationwide. More than two million children have passed through its doors to sing along with legends like Tony Hadley, Beverley Knight, Joss Stone and dozens of brilliant artists. This year the children performed alongside Heather Small, violinist Anna Phoebe, the Beatbox Collective and dance group Urban Strides.

Samantha Hodder, Principal of Uphill Village Academy, said: “Young Voices is a unique experience which enables our children to perform with thousands of children from across the country. The children absolutely love attending and are always inspired by the acts they perform alongside. It is a fabulous opportunity to celebrate the importance of the arts and it is so lovely to witness the impact events like this have on the children.”

It’s been a good month for CLF academies in the January edition of the Voices newspapers, six separate articles, including two front pages! Please see below for more details.

Three years since their last show because of COVID Bristol Metropolitan Academy returned with a bang and staged sell out shows of their highly anticipated musical production of ‘Matilda’ to over 1200 people. Molly Sykes Jerrold Year 8 and Lyra Larkin Year 9 performed the lead role of Matilda and received outstanding reviews.

Champion Go Karter Ryan Fisher, a Hanham Woods Academy Year 11 student recently spent a fantastic weekend in Belgium to experience racing at Spa-Francorchamps karting.

School children from Minerva Primary Academy from Years 4, 5 and 6 went to Hillfields park to plant trees. It was hard work digging the holes, but the children had help from volunteers including Marvin Rees, the Bristol Mayor!

John Cabot Academy has launched a major new anti-bullying initiative that tackles race, gender, appearance, sexuality, special educational needs and disability, and or home circumstances. Fronting this initiative is a poster campaign throughout the building.

Cabot Learning Federation Post 16 students wore either cultural dress or a Christmas jumper to raise money for save the Children.

On Saturday 10th December, Kingswood centre came alive with festive stalls, food and music from the John Cabot Academy choir and musicians.

On Saturday 10th December, Kingswood centre came alive with festive stalls, food and music from the John Cabot Academy choir and musicians.

This was a community event organised by Creative Youth Network. Visitors could purchase a hot drink and nibbles from their resident café, The White Elephant. They could also a walk around the stalls and get to know the people in their local area.

The 20 students from Year 7 to Year 11 performed a festive medley of songs including “Silent Night” and “White Christmas”, and also performed late 1980s classic “Like a Prayer” by Madonna in three-part choir harmony.

One student said, “They were delighted to be a part of this festive event and to spread the Christmas spirit in their local community.”

The students have been busily preparing for their own Winter Concert and were glad to be asked to participate in this event.

Their music teacher, Ms Grierson said, “Here at John Cabot we value our community and want to be involved where we can. This was a brilliant opportunity for students to get out in the community and share their lovely voices and musical talents.”

Three years since their last show because of COVID Bristol Metropolitan Academy returned with a bang and staged sell out shows of their highly anticipated musical production of ‘Matilda’ to over 1200 people. Molly Sykes Jerrold Year 8 and Lyra Larkin Year 9 performed the lead role of Matilda and received outstanding reviews. Molly said ‘I have loved playing every second of Matilda’

The story is about a young girl with extraordinary powers, who uses her genius to take revenge on her abusive parents, and later to fight back against the tyrannical principal of her school.

Director and Drama Programme Leader Meesh Vince said ‘“The show really was nothing short of phenomenal. Our 96 incredibly talented students in cast and crew aged Year 7 – 11 have worked on the production for over 12 months. I had a dedicated staff team who worked tirelessly with the students on a weekly basis outside of school hours. Our art and DT staff and students contributed to the set. A team of students even choreographed and taught the fantastic dances, DT teacher Dave Vince constructed the spectacular set with illusionary special effects and Drama Teacher Lucie Morrish taught all the songs, lead vocals and harmonies. The sense of belonging between the students will continue to be very special. Every single person who came to see this show was gifted a magical experience”

Quotes from the audience

“I had taught for over 50 years and this by far was the best ever show I have seen!”

“I couldn’t believe I was watching school children because they were so professional”

“What a show, and we’ve watched a few! Totally blown away by the professionalism and the talent of each and every one of the students and wanted to watch it all over again! They raised the bar very high”

“It was a like watching a mini west end show”

Champion Go Karter Ryan Fisher, a Hanham Woods Academy Year 11 student recently spent a fantastic weekend in Belgium to experience racing at Spa-Francorchamps karting.

Then back in the UK Ryan raced at TeamSport where he competes for the Shrekers or Wreckers. Ryan won the autumn championship in Juniors and overall.

Racing from the age of 10, Ryan has had a passion for Karting ever since, and is so successful he has been sponsored by Tom at Matts place based in Hanham High Street.

Ryan said, “I would like to thank my family for their encouragement and support over the years I have been karting, without them I could not do this.”

Mum and dad said, “To say we are super proud of his achievements would be an understatement, we are immensely proud of Ryan’s achievements and the hard work he puts into to his karting”

Stephen OCallaghan, Principal of Hanham Woods said: “Everyone at the Academy is incredibly proud of Ryan’s achievements. He is a great example of someone who embodies our values of Dream BIG, Work Hard, Be Kind in order to achieve success!”