Young talent on show on February 3rd as performers compete for awards
The Woking Young Musician of the Year competition takes place on February 3rd, with outstanding performers aged 14-20 from this year’s Woking Music festival invited to participate.
The adjudicator for the Young Musician of the Year competition will be Paul Barritt who has been leader of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra and until recently, the Hallé, having performed with this orchestra for the past 20 years.
Cash prizes are awarded to the winners and a bursary is also awarded to study at a summer school. Several of these performers have gone on to be in the finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition and, in recent years, two have won this coveted title.
Other awards that will be presented at the event are Woking Junior Musician of the Year, Most Promising Young singer, Most Promising Young Actor, and a chamber music award.
The Woking YM evening is an annual event at which a selection of the best competitors aged 14 to 20 who attended the Woking Music Festival in November 2023 are invited to compete in concert conditions.
The talented young musicians will be performing at St John Church, St John, Woking where the audience would be treated to a delightful musical evening from some of our most talented young musicians.
Woking Music Festival is a celebration of the musical and literary vitality of Woking and the surrounding area. The festival welcomes people of all ages and abilities, who can derive and give pleasure in participating, whatever their tastes or performing standard.
Founded by Nancy Leigh in 1926 and affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals (BIFF), the festival is now one of the largest of its kind in the south-east with around 1,000 people taking part each year. Highly respected teachers and performers act as adjudicators, giving valuable advice and guidance to all participants.
More than 90 trophies are competed for in over 200 classes. Subjects covered include musicals, jazz, classical music including opera and oratorio, school choirs, bands, speech and drama.
The adjudicators come from music and drama institutions across the UK who judge winners in each category and give valuable advice and guidance.
Visit wokingmusicfestival.org.uk for information on all events, dates and venues. Tickets £12 per adult, children under 18 free.
Award-winning producer Ellen Kent returns to Oxford’s New Theatre.
The Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv will be presenting stunning classical productions of Bizet’s Carmen on Wednesday 17th January and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Thursday 18th January.
Bizet’s masterpiece, Carmen, is packed with passion, sexual jealousy, death and unforgettable arias. The story of the bewitching gypsy girl whose tantalising beauty lures a soldier to desertion and leads to her own murder, Carmen includes some of the most evocative and best-loved melodies in opera.
The stunning set, built by Setup Scenery, who also build sets for the Royal Opera Covent Garden, reflects the magnificent architecture of Seville with its Roman and Moorish influences.
Carmen will star Ukrainian mezzo-soprano’s Natalia Matveeva and Irina Sproglis. Sung in French with English surtitles.
Madama Butterfly, the winner of the Best Opera Award by the Liverpool Daily Post Theatre Awards, returns in a new production with exquisite sets including a spectacular Japanese garden and fabulous costumes including antique wedding kimonos from Japan. One of the world’s most popular operas, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly tells the heart-breaking story of the beautiful young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American naval lieutenant – with dramatic results. Highlights include the melodic ‘Humming Chorus’, the moving aria ‘One Fine Day’ and the unforgettable ‘Love Duet’.
In Madama Butterfly the fabulous Korean soprano Elena Dee returns alongside Ukrainian soprano Alyona Kistenyova and Ukrainian mezzo-soprano’s Natalia Matveeva and Irina Sproglis. Madama Butterfly will be sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Ellen personally hand-picks and directs all soloists to create visually beautiful and moving productions. She said of these productions, ‘I am delighted to be working with the Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv again after the huge success of the spring 2023 tour. I started working with Ukraine in 2000 and have continued these strong relationships ever since, working with the Odessa National Opera for which I was awarded The Golden Fortune Honorary Medal from the President of the Ukraine, as well as the Kharkiv National Opera and for the last couple of years with the brilliant Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv.’
Tickets for Carmen (17 January 2024) and Madama Butterfly (18 January 2024) at Oxford’s New Theatre are available here.
Child Bereavement UK helps families to rebuild their lives when a child grieves or when a child dies. They support children and young people (up to the age of 25) when someone important to them has died or is not expected to live, and parents and the wider family when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying.
On Sunday 4th February 2024 they will be holding the popular Snowdrop Walk at West Wycombe Park. This annual event is an opportunity to enjoy a walk in the beautiful surroundings. Children can enjoy a treasure hunt and visitors can finish their walk with hot food, cakes, and refreshments at West Wycombe Village Hall, where further children’s activities will be taking place.
Snowdrops will also be available to plant in memory of someone special.
If you’re not able make it along to the day but would like a snowdrop planted on your behalf, please make a donation of £5 and include the reference Snowdrop.
Child Bereavement UK offer free, confidential bereavement support for individuals, couples, children, young people, and families, by telephone, video or instant messenger, wherever you live in the UK. Face-to-face support is also offered from a number of locations.
A new permanent exhibition, opening on 27th January 2023 at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, tells a story of how a small act of kindness can have a life-changing impact. Naomi and Arthur: Letters from Liberation focuses on two people from different worlds – Arthur Tyler, a soldier with the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, and Naomi Kaplan, a Polish Jew who survived both Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.
When the Oxfordshire Yeomanry liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15th April 1945, they found prisoners living in appalling conditions of disease, starvation and cruelty, with many thousands of unburied dead. Naomi Kaplan was one of the survivors who had endured several years in the Nazi camp system. She approached soldier Arthur Tyler and asked him to write to her family to tell them she was alive. Her mother, husband and sister-in-law had all perished in Auschwitz, but Naomi remembered the address of her Uncle Bill in Houston, USA. Arthur wrote a letter straight away and began a correspondence with Naomi’s sister Elizabeth Brandon, who was also safe in Houston.
In her response Elizabeth thanked Arthur saying: ‘I am infinitely happy to know that she is alive and well and I will not rest until we are reunited.’ Naomi herself described the effect of being reconnected to her family as ‘a continuation of wonderful experiences’, as her brother-in-law and other US Army soldiers were soon able to visit her in Germany.
When Naomi eventually reached the USA, she also wrote to Arthur, to thank him saying: ‘I met very many British soldiers and I asked everybody to write about me to my family, but nobody did it – only you.’
Her optimism and courage were clear from her attitude to her new beginning in the USA, reunited with her remaining family: ‘I try to forget my sad past, I am thinking about the fine present and the beautiful future.’
Naomi became a highly successful businesswoman in Houston, bringing up three children and running an international meat import and processing company. She remembered Arthur’s kindness throughout her life, telling her family of the soldier who had helped her. Her retirement was filled with philanthropy, sharing her experiences with young people and supporting Holocaust Museum Houston. For her 80th birthday and to celebrate her extraordinary life, her three children established an education programme – the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers – based at Holocaust Museum Houston, which continues to teach and inspire. Arthur led a modest life in London after the war. But he never forgot what he had seen at Bergen-Belsen.
Almost 50 years after the liberation he protested against Holocaust denial, standing shoulder to shoulder with survivors, and being interviewed for several national newspapers. Both Naomi and Arthur had their lives changed by their meeting at Bergen-Belsen. Now a new generation has been touched by the story. Research by Dr Myfanwy Lloyd has enabled the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum to connect with Naomi’s children and grandchildren in Houston. Through their generosity, visitors to the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum can see the original letters, family photographs and newspaper reports that tell the story of Naomi and Arthur.
Ursula Corcoran, Director of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum said: ‘Letters from Liberation is a war-time story with a difference – focusing on an act of kindness, and the courage of survival. Through Naomi and Arthur we can remember the devastation that the Nazi regime inflicted on so many families. But we also see that humanity can shine through in the bleakest of situations. The story is also a powerful reminder that we need to be vigilant against Holocaust denial and the rise of authoritarian rule. The new display gives a human face to the Holocaust Memorial Day theme for 2024 – the ‘Fragility of Freedom’.
‘Naomi and Arthur: Letters from Liberation’ goes on display at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum from 27th January 2024.
Bring along items you no longer wear & exchange them for something new to you!
New year, so how about a ‘new to you’ wardrobe? Let someone else love your unwanted clothes and take home some new ones for yourself.
The clothes swap on Friday, 2nd February, 7pm, Northcourt Centre, Northcourt Road OX14 1NS, is exactly what it says – bring items you don’t wear and swap them. It is the most sustainable way to update your wardrobe!
You can drop off up to 10 items of adult clothing (no children’s please) from 7pm and then relax to allow time to sort into size order and type for easy swapping before doors open officially at 7.30pm. See what takes your fancy, try it on, and take it home – it’s that easy.
Between 7-7.30pm, refreshments will be available to purchase and there will be stalls from local, sustainable businesses.
Please only bring freshly washed items in good condition. Ask yourself ‘would you give this to your best friend?’ – if the answer is yes, please bring it along!
Tickets just £5.
Also, if there’s any suitable workwear items still looking for a home, organisers willl take them to Smart Works Reading, a charity that provides women with the clothing, coaching and confidence they need to succeed in interviews and get the job. 10% of the profits will go to Smart Works, Reading.
All other left over items will be donated to local charity shops or kept for the next swap! More datils & to buy tickets, visit Clothes Swap!
Grayson’s tapestries visit Surrey for the first time. For those with good taste. Possibly.
Grayson Perry’s The Vanity of Small Differences – six large-scale tapestries exploring the British fascination with social class, created by the Turner Prize-winning artist as a result of his acclaimed TV series – go on display at The Lightbox this January. The tapestries, which are part of the Arts Council Collection, are touring the country and this will be their first public display in Surrey.
Inspired by the characters, incidents and objects the artist encountered during the making of his Channel 4 documentary series, All in the Best Possible Taste, the tapestries evolved from drawings and photography Perry made whilst travelling around England in search of what is – or isn’t – deemed to be ‘good taste’.
Grayson Perry is one of Britain’s most celebrated artists and cultural figures. He is recognised as a great chronicler of contemporary life, tackling subjects that are universally human: social status, identity, sexuality, religion and more.
In The Vanity of Small Differences, Perry shares a story of 21st century social mobility. The tapestries chart the life of a fictional character, Tim Rakewell, whose ‘class journey’ has parallels with that of his 18th century namesake, Tom Rakewell – the central figure in William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress (1732-34).
As Hogarth told his tale in a series of eight paintings, Grayson Perry shares the rise and demise of Tim Rakewell in this series of six, 2m x 4m tapestries – an art form traditionally associated with grand houses for the depiction of great historical, religious and military scenes. In The Vanity of Small Differences, Perry plays with the idea of using this ancient allegorical art to elevate the commonplace dramas of contemporary British life.
Art historical references within contemporary scenes feature throughout the series. In The Adoration of the Cage Fighters,in which the infant Tim reaches for his mother’s smartphone, there are echoes of Mantegna’s Adoration of the Shepherds (c.1450), and Perry’s second tapestry, Agony in the Car Park, is described by the artist as a “distant relative” of Bellini’s Agony in the Garden (c.1465).
The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal shows Tim as a wealthy man having sold his business to Richard Branson, with the convex mirror and discarded shoes recalling the famous Arnofilni Portrait (1434) by Jan van Eyck; and in The Upper Class at Bay, Tim and his wife, now owners of a mansion in the Cotswolds, resemble Mr and Mrs Andrews walking through their estate in Thomas Gainsborough’s celebrated painting.
But the story ends in tragedy. In Perry’s final, dramatic tapestry, Lamentation – which takes inspiration from The Lamentation (c.1441) by Rogier van der Weyden – Tim’s life comes to an end following a car accident. This image also reconnects the series with Hogarth, whose final painting in A Rake’s Progress records Tom Rakewell’s death.
Grayson Perry said: “The tapestries tell the story of class mobility, for I think nothing has as strong an influence on our aesthetic taste as the social class in which we grow up. I am interested in the politics of consumerism and the history of popular design but for this project I focus on the emotional investment we make in the things we choose to live with, wear, eat, read or drive. Class and taste run deep in our character – we care. This emotional charge is what draws me to a subject”.
Sarah Brown, Director of The Lightbox, said: “We are thrilled that The Lightbox will host this exhibition, which marks Grayson Perry’s first solo exhibition in Surrey and is also the first time that The Vanity of Small Differences have been on public display in the county. Creating local opportunities to experience the best contemporary and modern art is at the heart of what we do, and through our exhibitions, activities and community events we work hard to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit.”
“We share with Grayson a firm belief that “art is good for you”, and never have we needed it more. This exhibition will provide inspiration for the New Year and we look forward to welcoming visitors.”
Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences opens at The Lightbox, Woking on 27 January (until 2 June). A programme of events for visitors, schools and community groups accompanies the exhibition. For further information: lightbox.org.uk
Tony Hersch of Newbury Astronomy Society shares with us what to expect in the skies in January
This month spectacular Ursa Major (the “saucepan” or “plough” shape) stands vertically above the horizon in the North.
Follow an imaginary line joining the two stars at the end of the saucepan shape downwards and the next brightest star is Polaris, the pole star. This variable star (it changes its brightness over a period of four days) is about 433 light years away, is visible all year round and its position in the sky is such that it always points towards magnetic north and is a useful marker if you’re lost at night!
Near the highest point above your head is another bright star called Capella, the fourth brightest star in our northern hemisphere after Sirius, Arcturus and Vega and part of a constellation called Auriga. It’s only about 43 light years away and is one of the strongest sources of x rays in the night sky. Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, Capella is actually a quadruple star system organized in two binary pairs.
Keep a look out for meteors during the first 12 days of January when the Moon is only a crescent, because the Quadrantid meteor shower that started late in December continues. Look in the direction of Ursa Major about half way up the sky after midnight and you might see a meteor every few minutes. The peak happens around January 3rd. Regarding planets, Venus is bright this month in the mornings and can be seen just above and to the left of the crescent Moon at about 7am on January 8th. Saturn is shining in the evening sky. An easy time to spot it will be around 5pm on January 14th when it will be just to the right of a beautiful thin crescent Moon and well worth a look if it’s clear.
Topic of the month: Red Dwarfs
We tend to think we can see millions of stars in a dark clear night sky but in fact, unaided, even people with exceptional vision can only see at most 10,000 stars in a perfectly dark sky. There are many, many more stars we can’t see without a telescope. In fact of the 60 nearest stars to Earth, 50 are too dim for the unaided eye. These are red dwarf stars, the most common type of star in the universe, which glow a dull red and far less brightly than bigger stars. Red dwarf stars form just like other stars out of a molecular cloud of dust and gas. Gravity pulls the swirling gas and dust together, and it begins to rotate. The material clumps in the centre, and when it reaches a critical temperature, fusion begins. However red dwarfs have very low mass compared to brighter stars. As a result, they have relatively low gravity crushing material down, a low nuclear fusion rate, and hence, a low temperature and so they emit relatively little light. Even the largest red dwarfs have only about 10% of the Sun’s luminosity. Their low rate of nuclear fusion means they use up their fuel much slower than brighter stars and some are thought to have existed since the beginning of time, 13.8 billion years ago, far longer than other brighter stars. Because of their longevity and constant heat output astronomers are interested in the many planets which can orbit red dwarfs because these planets will have had constant conditions for far longer than Earth. If these planets have the right conditions for life to have evolved, like liquid water, they might be more likely to support life simply because of the duration of the constant conditions.
NewburyAstro welcomes everyone to their monthly astronomy meeting and beginners meeting (£2 for adults, free for under 18s) and also to star gazing and other events. See newburyastro.org.uk for details. Questions to [email protected]
Now’s the time to take up skateboarding, with the sport set to soar at the Olympics later this year & the Design Museum ramping up the excitement…
Skateboarding, in case you didn’t get the memo, is cool. British-Japanese star Sky Brown, the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, is set to star for Great Britain at the Paris Olympics this summer. And the hot ticket in town is the Skateboard exhibition at the Design Museum in Kensington featuring the UK’s newest skate ramp inside the exhibition gallery.
As well as admiring the 100+ rare and unique boards from the 1950s to the present day on display (with a free go on the halfpipe if you’re up to it), on 20th January you can book in to enjoy a skate photography workshop with Bucks skateboard star Leo Sharp (@sharphoto). Growing up in the concrete jungle of Milton Keynes, Leo’s skate photographs have been published in international titles including Thrasher, Transworld, Skateboarder, and more. Sharp has also worked as a lecturer in photography at Falmouth University and exhibited in a number of exhibitions.
“It’s the best part of my week!”
Harrison Neave, nine
Skateboarding developed in the US in the 1950s as surf culture was taking off. It was then part of the underground, alternative culture of the 1980s, going hand-in-hand with the values of freedom, rebellion and thrill seeking. The sport continued to develop and became more widely accessible at the start of the 21st century, proving a huge hit among young people. If you look carefully you’ll find a like-minded tribe of skaters and scooters of all ages at a park tucked away near you.
Amersham Skatepark, at King George’s Field, was upgraded in 2020 to a concrete plaza course. Its higher level leads down to the lower level via a set of stairs with rail and a pair of “hubbas” either side. On the lower level is a hip, pair of ledges, rail and a manual pad, following on from these obstacles is a half-width spine and a quarter-pipe ramp to get you moving back up the other end.
The skatepark at Aston Clinton, HP22 5HL, consists of metal-framed composite ramps and concrete ramps on a concrete base. At either end of the course is a flat bank and a quarter pipe that flank a driveway with rail and an adjoining spine. There are also some rails and benches scattered around the edges.
Aylesbury Vale skatepark, HP20 1DH, had an upgrade in 2015, with the old metal ramps replaced with a concrete skatepark. It now has a stair set with handrail, grind wall and boxes, tombstone jump ramp, “wally bar” and a selection of banks and quarter-pipe ramps.
There’s also Chesham Skateparkin Lowndes Park, HP5 2JE, and Holmers Farm Skatepark, HP12 4PE, a plaza-style concrete skatepark with ramps and ledges across different levels, and with low quarter pipes at each end.
Marlow Skatepark, SL7 2AE, is a concrete park featuring various flat banks and quarter pipes with spine, ledges and a rail.
Princes Risborough Skatepark within King George V Park, HP27 9EP, features two sections of tarmac, a mini-ramp with a roll-in ramp attached at a 90degree angle at one end.
Chalfont St Peter Skatepark, which is always open, can be found on the grounds of the Chalfont St Peter community centre. It is made up of a metal half-pipe with a set of small metal ramps off to the side with a tarmac base. The ramps comprise of a low kicker/bank at each end with a funbox in between.
Thanks to a group of enthusiastic local parents, The Chalfonts Activity Park Project is on a mission to improve the free-to-use outdoor sports facilities. David Rollins of the group has said that their objective is to collaborate with the community and local authority to build a modern wheeled sports activity park for people of all ages to enjoy, on their bikes, skates, skateboards and scooters. He points out that he’s in his forties and loves skateboarding along with many friends his age and above.But it’s not just about a skatepark. If there is enough interest and funding, they’d like to see it include other features to become something the whole community can enjoy. To find out more about the project please visit chalfontactivity.com
A great example of a honeypot for skaters is Thame Skatepark, OX9 3RN, which recently had a £250,000 renovation and is suitable for all abilities. The park is free to use and is open all year round. One enthusiastic user is Harrison Neave, nine, who says: “I love coming here on my scooter at the weekend – it’s the best part of my week! What I love most is that I get to hang out with some older boys & girls who are doing really cool tricks.”
Comedian & TV star Miles Jupp, 44, talks about how surviving a brain tumour led to his On I Bang UK tour which includes Norden Farm in Maidenhead on 12th January, Oxford Playhouse on 16th, Newbury Corn Exchange on 24th and Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud on 4th March
Since Miles’ last tour finished at The London Palladium in 2017, he’s been in The Full Monty on Disney Plus, The Durrells and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? on ITV, as well as a heap of episodes of Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and Have I Got News For You. He’s made an award-winning radio series and he’s published a novel.
Yet one sunny day in the middle of all this, he suddenly suffered a brain seizure. This led to the discovery of a tumour the size of a cherry tomato, and a rather pressing need to undergo major neurosurgery. Obviously, one doesn’t wish to make a big deal of it, but the experience has left him with a story to tell and a few things that he’d like to share with the room. So that’s exactly what he’s doing in his new show On I Bang – a tale about surprise, fear, luck, love and qualified medical practitioners…
Hi Miles, you are looking very well. “My skull probably has a groove in it, but it’s at the back, I can’t see it. I feel quite quite jolly.
Q. This major life event in 2021 forms the basis of your new show On I Bang. Without any spoilers what happened? “Well, the big spoiler is I survived. I had a brain seizure, which was actually quite lucky. It meant I was taken to hospital where they ran tests. So having the seizure was an element of fortune because it’s like a big helpful sign that something is up. And that something was a brain tumour the size of a cherry tomato, which had to be removed.”
Q. What were you doing when it happened? “I was filming the ITV series Trigger Point. I’d just finished my scene. Ludicrously my character, a radio host, is speaking and then a bomb goes off roughly when it felt like a bomb had gone off in my own head. Luckily I was in a work environment which meant there was a medic on the set so they wrestled me into the appropriate position. It was only a day’s work, but taking that job might have saved my life.”
Q. Was it completely unexpected? “The tumour was there but I was totally unaware of it. They can’t date it. It’s not like trees or fossils. The swelling of the tumour causes the pressure. And it’s the pressure that eventually caused the seizure. It could have happened at any time, but until about five minutes before, there was nothing. I just started feeling very dizzy very quickly and there was some flashing of lights. I remember falling forward and then some people holding me down and then it’s just like a series of moments of consciousness. Next time I was in an ambulance and then I was in A&E at West Middlesex Hospital.”
Q. Has it changed your outlook on life? “It’s very good for putting things in perspective. Not that I don’t moan about all the pathetic things other people moan about as well. But after a while, you can go, oh, I’ve got the freedom to moan about it. You just think about things in a different way.”
Q. It must have been very worrying for your family? “I could be lying in a hospital bed plugged into stuff and actually feeling fine, whereas from their point of view it’s ‘oh no, he’s lying in a hospital bed with lots of stuff plugged into him.’ And they got the call from the programme’s line producer to say I was on my way to hospital. So that’s quite as a shocking thing to get when you are on the bus. The luxury for me was you go, ‘well, all I can do is trust these people.’ In a way it’s sort of freeing. It’s all the unknowns that are stressful. Even dealing with being lucky is stressful. Because you think why? Why me?’
Q. You had surgery after three weeks to remove the tumour… “It was accessible, but not totally straightforward. I found being in hospital, very uplifting, actually, partly because you’re just surrounded by people that are very caring. There must have been about five other people on that ward all in the same boat. So you don’t feel alone in that sense. It is scary. And I’ve not experienced a thing like that. I can’t pretend that it isn’t.”
“I find there’s a sort of romance about touring”
Miles Jupp
Q. So On I Bang is all about this event – before, during and after? “This is the show. It’s a story told in a stand-up style. I promise you there are lots of jokes. It’s not me moaning about unsatisfactory customer experience or something I’ve noticed about luggage. Hopefully it’s a pure piece of storytelling, with a beginning, a middle and an end. I got a letter from a guy who saw a work in progress gig and he’s been through the same thing. He was saying people around him were worried but it was very cathartic for him.”
Q. How did the show come about? “I started writing it down, not in a comedic way, but I thought it would be useful to have a record of it. Then I thought, I haven’t done a stand-up tour for six years. And I went to see Blur at Wembley and I just thought it’s great being in a crowd, isn’t it? I just thought I like this thing of a crowd enjoying a thing together so much. And I thought, yes, I should turn that thing into a show and do it, which is a kind of an odd genesis, really. And I like going to theatres.”
Q. You started out as a stand-up but many people will know you as an actor. You’ve done so much, from Balamory and Harry Potter to Rev and The Thick Of It…“I think filming my part in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took 20 minutes. My costume fitting took longer. I’m a sucker for a straight offer without an audition. There’s a difference between working hard and working a lot. And I think if you’re creating the work yourself, that counts as working hard, if you’re just accepting the work that you’re given that’s not the same. Working on my own has its pleasures in terms of control and being able to fix something quickly, or make adjustments. But I really like the bit when you’re making something in a team, the rehearsals are the best bits.”
Q. With acting you don’t know what’s next… “I got a nice part in a thing in Antwerp and then a week later I did one audition for Disney+’s The Full Monty on a Friday, got the part on the Tuesday, the next Friday I had a costume fitting, then started filming on the following Monday for six months.”
Q. You’ve got some high ranking roles coming up. The Duke of Rochester in the series Belgravia and Emperor of Austria in Ridley Scott’s movie Napoleon… “It could be cut to nothing but I did get to ride a horse in Napoleon. I had to go to a riding school and I thought, this is quite fun, quite therapeutic. But then when we started filming a stunt rider did absolutely everything!”
Q. You clearly enjoy performing, but stand-up seems to be your first love. “I like walking out onto a stage somewhere. I think the best view of a theatre is nearly always from the stage. I find there’s a sort of romance about touring. I remember with my show Fibber in the Heat appearing in Swindon on a Monday night. I turned up and there was 170 people there. I don’t know Swindon, I didn’t know anyone in Swindon. And I remember thinking, that’s great that 170 people have come here to watch this thing. I just love touring for that. So I really look forward to walking onstage again and telling a story. And hopefully, you know, we’ll have fun.”
There’s a new year on the horizon and we hope our education special will help you. We take a look at the International Baccalaureate, learning to read as an adult and supporting the mental health and happiness of children.
Many schools are choosing to expand their education offering with the International Baccalaureate which examines ‘how to learn’ as much as ‘what to learn’, is it right for your child?.
In today’s world more so than ever children need to become well-rounded individuals developing strong academic, social and emotional characteristics, but how best to help them achieve this.
An increasing number of schools are opting to teach the International Baccalaureate. In its Schools of the Future report in January 2020, the World Economic Forum identified a model of education which “more closely mirrors the future of work and provides children with the skills to thrive in the new economy”.
In contrast to the traditional method of gaining specific subject knowledge, it emphasised the development of key skills, employing a wide-ranging set of characteristics which would enable today’s children to adapt more readily to the challenges of tomorrow.
So what is the IB?
The programme is spilt into four parts for children from the age of three to 19 – Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme. Schools and colleges can utilise one or more parts of the programme.
Rather than teaching a predefined set of information in preparation for a test / exam at the end, the IB focuses as much on ‘how to learn’ as ‘what to learn’ reinforcing the idea that this better equips children with the skills they need for the world at large.
Pupils still learn the content giving them the knowledge but it is more ‘self directed’ allowing them to develop the necessary critical life skills. Teachers are also given more freedom in the way in which they teach as subjects may develop along a different path depending on the existing knowledge levels and interests of pupils, rather than covering the same content in each academic year.
Children also benefit from the connectivity of the IB syllabus with teaching staff coming together with common topics (units of inquiry) so everything interlinks. For example, children may be learning about The Great Fire of London – in an English lesson they may read books and write about it, in art and DT they may build models of the houses, in science they may look at how fire spreads and then in maths, use this data to explore equations. While there is still separate and distinct teaching in some areas, a large portion of the learning is built around topics, better replicating the real world problems likely to be faced which are multi-faceted and benefit from a more all-round approach that learning of this type encompasses.
“IB students have the opportunity to reflect upon what they already understand”
One such school which has adopted this method is St George’s School Windsor Castle, which last year became the first standalone prep school in the country to be certified as an IB World School. It employs the Primary Years Programme from kindergarten to Year 6 (3-11 years of age) and then the Pre-Senior Baccalaureate in Years 7 and 8 (11-13 year olds).
Head of Pre-Prep at St George’s School, Emma Adriano spearheaded the roll out and said they realised the “rapid change of pace and uncertainty around the future job market required a bold change of strategy”.
“Rather than learning subjects by rote with the sole goal of passing exams, IB students have the opportunity to reflect upon what they already understand, identify their own knowledge gaps and areas of interest and explore how to research and develop a deeper understanding of each topic across a range of subject ideas and practical applications.”
She added: “Fundamentally, alongside imparting knowledge, the curriculum teaches not what to think, but how to learn.”
As with everything in life, the IB is not for everyone and critics cite those who have very defined career paths in mind such as physicists for whom specialisation may be more relevant with the need to focus heavily on maths, further maths and physics at A Level as opposed to a more broader curriculum.
Pupils choosing to study the IB Diploma (16-19 year olds) which focuses on six subject areas over the two-year course, need to be organised and committed as well as being an independent thinker and learner and be able to communicate their learning well, oral presentations are a key feature.
In terms of life skills and developing a critical balance of knowledge, skills and mindset – the IB is highly rated. Some schools offer both options to suit individual needs giving students more choice.
