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HASN is Rockin' with TALENT!

This year was kicked off to an amazing start in September with the first round of auditions for the HASN “So You Think You Got Talent” Show. We were flabbergasted by just how many of our students - including many from year seven - had the courage to stand up and demonstrate their talents in front of an unnerving panel of judges. We were treated to a wide variety of talents, such as a Shakespearean monologue; a magic act; duets; drummers; guitarists; poets; bands; rappers and dancers; not to mention the solo artists with their amazing a cappella performances.

The teachers were delightedly surprised with the phenomenal number of hidden talents which stepped into the limelight. A total of fifty-nine acts performed in three days of first-round auditions; each with their own energy and enthusiasm! It was an immense challenge to systematically reduce that number through to two days of semi-finals and down again, to the final round of only fifteen slots.

As the days progressed, the teachers were very impressed with the amount of attention the students gave to their feedback; showing such improvement that a sneak preview was allowed to fellow students for the semi-finals! This was as a result to a very enterprising suggestion from two year ten students! Enterprising, because all the money raised from this interactive, rewarding and enjoyable event are for the completion of a classroom at the Kwwara Secondary School in Waangwaray in Tanzania.

The 20th October saw a sold-out-show with every single act deserving their time star-spangled time on centre-stage - it was amazing! A massive thanks must be extended to our Special-Guest Judges, Mr Hainey, Ms Kattenhorn and Mr Hitch. They were particularly impressed with how some artists “owned that stage!” wished that “<they> could move like that!” and “love that song even more” after having heard a student recite it. The finale was hosted by two charming Post 16 students, Ritchy and Omoy who ensured the crowd gave each and every single act the recognition they deserved. At the interval, the audience was treated to a selection of delicious food, prepared by the Year 11 BTEC class; yet another area of talent here at HASN!

Aside from their front-row seats, I did not envy the judges their task of making that final decision –it certainly must have been a tough one! However, every show must have a winner and the well-deserved bronze was awarded to the inspirational composer/rapper Matthew Perrin-Staple in year 10; the silver was won by the pure and touching voice of Anita Toci Thaci in year 8; but it was the powerful and compelling vocals of another year 8, Taahirah Samson, which overwhelmed the judges on the night and she was awarded the trophy for first place!

This night, along with so many other events over the past 18 months, could never have been realised without the time, dedication and genuine desire to make an impact of our ‘LTT Group’. An immense amount of time, dedication, planning, advertising, photography and editing were put in by Oshaine Shields, Tendo Chawatama, Diran Odeyemi, Ritchy Da Silva, Olivia Grant, Kadeja Clarke, Erim Mehmet, Olivia Davis-Hope, Rochelle Griffiths, Chantall Stoby and Saima Zafar. Their commitment and enterprising skills will never go unnoticed and we look forward to seeing them involved in the running of many projects of their own in the future!

A massive thanks must be extended to the teachers (Mrs Pavlyk, Ms Fennell, Mr Perry, Ms Davess-Humphrey, Ms Potts, Ms Heathcote and Ms Mullard) who gave up their personal time to complete the arduous task of creating our list of finalists...it was certainly not an easy task, albeit, a much enjoyable one – all the stops were pulled out by our students, with a phenomenal amount of talent on display…who knows what next year’s event will bring!?