Chetwynde School pupils brought tales of Africa to the stage when they put on a production of smash hit musical The Lion King to a sell-out crowd.

Year 6 pupils took lead roles in the Disney film’s multi-award winning show which involved primary pupils from across Year 3, 4 and 5.
Katherine Parkinson, Head of Performing Arts at the school on Rating Lane, said all the tickets had been snapped up with over 400 people watching across the two nights.

“It was a fantastic show that the children have been working on since Easter and the audience reaction summed up just how well they did,” she said.

“As we have so many talented students some of the roles were shared between two children playing the parts on different nights. We have had students from the senior school helping with all elements of the show including choreography, set creation, costume creation and face painting.”

She added it had been a joint effort between Year 6 teacher Lee Shuttleworth and herself to make sure the children were well rehearsed and ready to perform. 

The school, which is now part of Furness College-led South Cumbria Multi-Academy Trust, took pupils to see The Lion King in London earlier this year as part of the preparations for the show. 

An historic Barrow school is celebrating its first year as part of the South Cumbria Multi-Academy Trust with its strongest pupil roll since opening as a free school in 2014.

Chetwynde School was the founding member of the Furness College-led SCMAT when it launched in September 2021.

Speaking about the first year, Headteacher Steve Jefferson said the school was now moving forward with its highest pupil numbers and a positive outlook for the future.

“We have more than 500 pupils, a very healthy intake for the autumn and are close to capacity with just a few places left across our year groups,” he said.

“We now also have the kindergarten so we can offer a unique ‘all through’ education from nursery and primary to Year 11, with the sixth form just across the road for post-16 academic college courses and all the technical expertise at Channelside down the road.

“Building improvements to the tune of nearly £3million have also been carried out and I think parents now have more confidence in the future of the school and the strength and quality of our provision.”

Mr Jefferson praised his senior team, his staff, parents, governors and supporters who had worked tirelessly to safeguard its future.

The school, on Rating Lane, moved out of special financial measures for the first time in five years last year and joined SCMAT.

Over the past year, staff in the primary school have been working with education expert Caroline Vernon, director of Northstar Education Consultancy, to implement an innovative new curriculum, which has been well-received by the teachers and is already having an impact on pupil learning in the classroom.

The school also led the MegaMAT Games, sponsored by SCMAT, with a series of sporting events from cross country and hockey, to swimming, basketball and tennis open to all primary schools across the area.

It will also be working with employer partner Forge Europa, based in Ulverston, on a series of curriculum activities in the next academic year designed to enhance students’ learning experience in design and technology and support the careers programme.

Chair of Governors John Burgess said he felt that under the Trust the school was thriving once more.

“The smiles and happiness of the children, of all year groups, including kindergarten children, expressed when interacting with ‘Mr Jefferson’ is quite special to see. This is a great example of the general feel and ethos of the school, with and a strong positive behavioural attitude instilled right throughout all the students,” he said.

“Steve’s selfless approach and steadfast determination to take the school to new heights is an inspiration to staff, students, parents and governors. He leads from the front with passion, commitment and courage.”

Furness College Principal and Chief Executive Professor Andrew Wren said the continued success of schools like Chetwynde with their unique offer of education right through from nursery to GCSEs was so important to the Furness and South Cumbria community.

“We are proud of what Steve, his staff, governors, parents and pupils have achieved over the past year. Change is not always easy but the commitment of the school to move forward and the willingness of Steve as head to make positive improvements we are confident the school will continue to grow.”

SCMAT will welcome Vickerstown School and Ormsgill School and Nursery as new members in the next academic year.

Primary pupils won praise for their reading skills when popular children’s authors visited the Ormsgill Book Festival this week.

More than 600 children enjoyed meeting and quizzing the authors who included Vashti Hardy, Chris Mould, Tom Palmer, Peter Bently and Dan Worsley in the event hosted by Ormsgill School and Nursery.

Vashti, a rising star in children’s literature and Blue Peter book award winner, said she had been really impressed by the pupils’ questions and their obvious love of reading.

“The questions were great, they were so knowledgeable and full of interest and you can tell the pupils are keen to learn and excited by stories,” she said.

“I think it is important that the pupils can see themselves as writers so meeting us and hearing about our experiences as children and knowing we are just people like them makes it reachable.

“You can always tell when you come into a school like this that there are teachers who promote reading. There are also ripples for the rest of the school because reading and writing radiates to all areas of the curriculum so once you have their interest about reading you cannot help but have a positive impact on everything they do in school.”

The authors shared tips on writing and other ways to create stories, including through drawings and maps, as a different route into writing and expressing their imagination to write about things that they love. Chris Mould who illustrated A Boy Called Christmas, which was turned into a hit festive movie on Netflix, led a workshop on design showing the young people how he is inspired to create his characters.

Year 6 pupil Nyal said: “It was honestly so good and I enjoyed it a lot. I think I most enjoyed the fact that I got to see the authors in person and I am a really big fan of Tom Palmer and his books so that felt great.”

The event, held at Ormsgill School, is organised by Year 3 teacher Laura Reid who is the school’s lead for maths and ICT, and shares her passion for literature to inspire all her students to read.

“It has gone so well,” she said. “The school has been buzzing, the authors have been amazing and the pupils have behaved perfectly. I’ve been trying to get Vashti into school for four years, she is a superstar and in those four years her profile has just rocketed.”

Pupils from Ormsgill Primary and Nursery, which joins South Cumbria Multi Academy Trust in September, were joined by pupils from current SCMAT school Chetwynde alongside pupils from Cambridge School, Sacred Heart, St George’s, South Walney Infants, South Walney Juniors and Victoria Academy.

Representatives from Barrow Library were also on hand to talk to the pupils about the Cumbria Libraries upcoming summer reading challenge, where children are tasked to read six books of their own choice in the school holidays and can receive certificates and prizes for their achievements.