Pupils who attend after school classes in Yoruba, Urdu, Tamil and Gujarati entertained parents and staff by displaying their linguistic talents in an evening of poetry, dance and drama.
Mr Clark started proceedings by thanking pupils and teachers for participating in the event and parents for their continued support for the school. He stressed that we are lucky to be such a diverse community with many languages and cultures and this event celebrates that rich diversity.
The pupils attending the Yoruba class and their teacher Mrs Rachael Akanji produced a short play demonstrating the importance of respect for elders in Nigerian culture.
They also entertained us with a fashion parade wearing colourful clothes typical of Nigeria, explaining what different types of clothes represent.
The pupils in Mrs Ali’s Urdu class read a beautiful poem by Ismail Merathi about a child who traps a glow-worm which demonstrated the importance of respecting others.
They also made many parents laugh with jokes in Urdu!
The Gujarati class performed “Dadia” a lovely dance using sticks. The boys and girls danced to rhythmic Indian music dressed in colourful traditional clothes.
They later read a beautiful poem in English and Gujarati, written by their Gujarati teacher Mrs Ranjan Patel, about valuing our languages. Very important in a school where 55 languages are spoken!
The finale was a Tamil play relating the Diwali story – called Deepavali in Tamil.
The pupils had the audience laughing nervously as the fearful main character wanted to torture everyone and then sighing when Krishna died (he was the good guy!)
The hours of rehearsals paid off as the pupils performed really well. The costumes and makeup were amazing.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening. It was full of colour and the pupils did a fabulous job showing off their language skills.
We also used this as an opportunity to say goodbye and thank you to Mrs Ranjan Patel who has taught Gujarati at our school for 15 years. She has also played a very important role in the cultural activities that have been organised during that time. We wish her the best of luck when she moves to the USA to start her new life.
Well done to all the pupils who participated and special thanks to their teachers who spent time on rehearsals. Thanks also to the parents who brought along delicious Nigerian and Indian food and those who were the costume designers and make up artists for the Tamil play. A great evening!