Caslon School have got the X Factor
Every term, Caslon holds a theme week. Last term's was 'Music', and the Creative Council got together to discuss ideas for the week. The X-Factor was suggested and everyone in the team got really excited about setting it up. Other activities were planned for the theme week including beat-boxing, chair drumming, recorder lessons, bhangra dancing and instrument making.
The event took a lot of organising, which was lead by the 8 members of the Caslon Creative Team. The first meeting took place 8 weeks before the show. So the team didn’t have long! Auditions and selection took 2 weeks, then there were 4 weeks of rehearsals to get the acts as good as they could be. The Creative Council met regularly along the way to plan and prepare letters and invite the chosen staff to be judges.
The X-Factor itself took place in the school hall on the last day of term before Easter - March 31st. The Creative Council held auditions in a classroom over 6 lunchtimes to give all the pupils who wanted a chance, the opportunity to try out for the show. They were very dedicated and were a great selection panel.
The morning of the X-Factor was very exciting! The Creative Council and all the acts gathered in the hall. A running order was planned by the Creative Council leaders, this was put together with everyone's music and one member acted as DJ for the sound tracks. Some members of the Creative Council set about making banners to go behind the stage while others took the role as host for the event. Four Creative Council members pretended to be the judges, giving feedback after each act performed. Acts included - Hannah Montana, The Spice Girls, Tinchy Strider and JLS.
There was a great buzz throughout the school all through the term running up to the X-factor which was created by excitement about auditions and finding out who got through. The pupils watched the show brilliantly and applauded and encouraged their peers wonderfully. “We saw a whole new side to our head teacher with his clever comments as a judge and one member of staff revealed her 'Simon Cowell' streak! All in all a great success which we would love to repeat again!” said Claire Williams, a teacher at Caslon School. Claire continued “it has been great to see some children, who aren't usually involved in musical activities, stepping out of their comfort zones and attempting something quite challenging and the smiles on their faces after they performed were heart warming. A real measure of success”.
Article written by pupils at Oldbury Wells School
Pupils at Caslon performing in the X-Factor competition
