Last week saw our annual House arts competition take place and saw a huge number of students taking part in a wide variety of competitions. Encompassing 6 separate Arts of; Photography, Poetry, Art, Drama, Music and Dance, the students produced some amazing work in each area and those lucky enough to be part of the event can certainly say they would have gone away impressed with the quality of the submissions.

Each year the Heads of House love to see the work displayed in the BMS Gallery and this year was no different. Having the opportunity to go over to the BMS Gallery during the event to see the work displayed was a real treat for both the staff and students involved.

With such a wide range of Arts on show, the audience, who had been given special permission to miss their Period 5 lessons, were entertained back in the main school hall with the Drama, Dance and Music performances. With the main theme this year being Communication, the Heads of House welcomed a range of submissions and it’s great to see both the talents of the students at Bushey Meads and the positivity is spread amongst those watching. Ranging from a live DJ set to Drama performances based on communication errors in a comedic ‘who done it’ skit, the Judges were certainly impressed.

I was lucky enough to be able to judge the competition with Mr Mitman (Assistant Headteacher) and can honestly say this has been the best year ever for quality and range of submissions. I look forward to seeing next year as if we see such a huge jump in quality again next year I am prepared to be absolutely blown away.

Each year we do have to select winners and both myself and Mr Mitman found this very difficult, so hard in fact that we had to add in additional places and have 3 third places. Below you can see the pieces in action and a small description provided by the performers on their links to the theme of Communication.

Joint 3rd Place –

Archie, Sophie and William -10Willow – A drama piece where the students acted out a farcical situation where miscommunication leads to errors in judgment and hilarious outcomes!

Elicia – 13Elm – ‘Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. I want to provoke thought in viewers to the different types of connection that individuals have with each other.’

Megan – 12Elm – ‘I decided I wanted my photography entry to explore the idea of non verbal communication. Often we struggle to verbalise certain emotions or thoughts, yet there are other ways in which we can provide comfort and reassurance for each other (for example through hugs) which can open up a new way of expressing our emotions entirely. Sometimes we overlook these simple notions and yet so much can be said within them that I felt it was important to highlight their power within my House Arts entry.’

2nd Place –

Helan and Ma’Kayjah – 9Beech – A powerful dance piece on communication of feelings. With this being the first time the girls had performed to an audience this was a very impressive effort.

1st Place –

Cayley-Anne – 9Oak

Cayley-Anne took the theme of communication and produced a fantastic piece of art to wow the judges and the students in attendance. As you can see below the time and effort put into this piece is huge and Calyley-Anne can be very proud of her efforts and in the quality of the final piece.