Arts

Music News

Music This Term

Year 7

Year 7 are finishing off their songs about their identity using GarageBand on their iPads. They will also be learning about the different parts of the drum kit and how to play different rhythms such as Rock, Reggae and Jazz etc.

Year 8

Year 8 are learning about Rap. They will create a Rap in groups and individually and perform them in front of their peers. They will also research the history of Rap and Hip Hop, review a rap song and an artist, and document their learning.

Year 9

Year 9 are forming their own bands this term and performing a song of their choice. They will also start to learn how to write their own songs. Some of the bands formed will participate in Nexus Beats in February 2023.

Year 10

This term they are continuing with their compositions as well as beginning the unit based on Baroque music for the final listening exam.

Year 11

With the trial exams round the corner; year 11 are focusing on world music such as; Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Latin.

Drama News

During the October break twenty one learners, and two very brave teachers, set off on Nexus’ first ever international theatre trip to London. The aim of the trip was to expose and immerse our learners into the very varied and vibrant world of theatre, and where better than London whose oldest working theatre, the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, dates back to 1663 and boasts its very own ghost!

The trip was action packed with backstage tours, practical workshops, sightseeing and a variety of different shows on each and every day. We know how important it is to nurture a love of the arts within young people and we are so thrilled that we were able to offer such a special opportunity to our Secondary Nexus learners.

Here is a quick breakdown of our Itinerary!

Day 1 - Covent Garden, some street performances, a walking tour of the theatres and the real ‘Diagon ally’ followed by Fish & Chips and the West End Musical ‘& Juliet’ at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Day 2 - Sightseeing around London including Trafalgar square, The Mall, Buckingham Palace, The horse guard parade, Green Park, Big Ben and Downing Street. After lunch we headed to the southbank and had Pizza for dinner followed by a Shakesperian performance at the Globe Theatre of ‘Much Ado about Nothing’.

Day 3 - We started the day with a stage combat workshop, followed by a backstage tour of the National Theatre - where we got to see how props, set and costumes are made, we also got to see the actors' dressing rooms! We took part in a dance workshop in the afternoon led by the dancers from the musical production of ‘& Juliet’ and after a yummy Italian dinner we watched ‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ at the National starring Samira Wiley.

Day 4 - This was an exciting day as the group got to perform on a real West End stage! After a morning touring the Globe Theatre and participating in a Shakespeare workshop, the group tried their hand at acting out extracts from the Woman in Black. After dinner, they got to watch the professionals do it and to say there were a few jump scares is putting it mildly!

Day 5 - A trip to Warner Bros Studios to take a look at the Harry Potter film sets and see the real costumes, wigs, prosthetics, props, scenery, models, sketches etc! After this epic day of magic, we then headed to the Lyceum Theatre which is over 255 years old, to watch The Lion King.

We will definitely be running the trip again next year, so if you are interested please come along to the information session that will be offered later this academic year. We would love to share this experience with anyone who is interested in the arts!

Have a look at some of the photos of what we got up to below!