A Lesson in Courage

25th May 2022

Whoever said ‘never work with children or animals’ had clearly never experienced the utter joy of working with the pupils at St Christopher’s. The experience of seeing life through the eyes of a primary school child is a privilege and brings a ray of light into every day.

For the last few weeks we have been producing our summer term production which this year was Beauty and the Beast.  A big commitment was required from the children from the youthful 5 year olds to the seasoned 7 year old performers and they accepted the challenge with style.

Our Music Director believes in sharing out the solos across the year and by the time May comes about children who were not ready to sing solos earlier in the year come forward and have their chance to shine. A wealth of talent was uncovered during the production with some outstanding acting and impressive line learning from even the shyest of actors. I love watching the faces of the Nursery Team who looked after the Year 2 children 3 and 4 years earlier when the confident and frankly brilliant performances that we saw today could scarcely be imagined.

Throughout the show, fine tuning was endlessly required from remembering to provide last minute props to the use of the smoke machine. During the period of direction the children took their new instructions faultlessly without complaint and remembered the new direction with accomplished style. No adult would have taken these last minute changes without serious (and arguably justified) complaint.

Today I watched in awe as the children romped through this delightful tale making me so incredibly proud. It has been the greatest of privileges to have been involved in this production and working with children (though admittedly not animals) has been a memorable and exceptional delight which I shall treasure forever.

Annie Thackray