Photos show Derbyshire pupils take on popular musical - after deputy headteacher launches musical club

Young actors from the musical club at Shirland Primary School performed on a big theatre stage at David Nieper Academy last week.

35 pupils, between the ages of seven and 11, have worked preparing for Annie Junior performance, which received a lot of positive feedback from parents and other students.

Deputy head Mrs Dolman, who launched the musical club, said: “ I set up a musical production at a previous school where I worked before and when I joined Shirland Primary School a couple of years ago, that was the first thing she wanted to introduce.

"The musical club is very popular and it is a great opportunity for pupils in Shirland to do something beyond school or their house. It gives children a platform to shine and to develop their confidence and their self-esteem in a really safe place.

“It is a great opportunity for all our children including children with special educational needs and on Pupil Premium. It is lovely to see those lower achieving children who don't thrive in Maths and English and other academic subjects thrive on stage and come alive.”

Pupils who made it to the cast had to take part in auditions and have worked very hard for the last few months with the help of school staff including Mrs Dolman, Mrs Banks, Mrs Harry, Mrs Rosochacki, Mr Smith and Mrs Clark.

The performance was a great success and ticket sales amounted to £1200 which will be used towards the cost of a musical production next year.

Mrs Dolman said: “We had a lot of the comments from parents saying how professional production was. It wasn’t a typical school production – we had the full lighting rig, and full sound system, we had the costumes and projections – and we even had a real dog this year in the show, which was lovely. The performance was amazing and it was great to see children absolutely thrive from it.”

Headteacher Louise Vessey added: “It's a very special event as it goes way beyond that of an in-school play. These children do not attend outside drama or singing, so it gives them an opportunity to have the full performing theatre experience.”