Termly Newsletter- Autumn Term
Wow, what a busy term we have had! This Autumn term has been a good one, with lots of exams, two competitions and some fun Christmas Festivities.
The end of last term saw 6 of our lovely students flying the nest off to new adventures. We love hearing their updates and having them in to visit at times! Nina has been enjoying London Studio Centre and Amelia Laine Theatre Arts. Archie is loving his time so far at Urdang and Lillie-Ella at Performers College Essex. Both Caitlin who is studying at Elmhurst and Ella who is at Exeter have been in to visit this week and have told us all about their new adventures!
We started the term with our new floor in our downstairs studio. Our students have loved tapping and dancing on the beautiful new flooring which we have all agreed has made the studio feel brighter and lighter! We do really appreciate everyone checking their screws on their shoes to help preserve and look after it!
At the end of the year we sadly said goodbye to Mrs Warner meaning we needed a new addition to the team. Miss Tamsin has joined us on Wednesdays, teaching from our very youngest pre-primaries all the way up to our Advanced 1s and we are thrilled to have her with us!
The new term also meant we needed some new friendly faces to help on a Saturday and Wednesday at the studio and so alongside Lily returning we now have Lola, Grace, Emily, Flo, Charis, Elspeth and Charlotte helping us throughout the week. Having this connection between our youngest and oldest students helps to promote the friendly atmosphere we hope to create here at JMDS and we really value the support of our teaching assistants to help us provide the training that we do.
October saw us return to Gloucester Dance Festival with our students enjoying their first time to compete this year. All students represented the school brilliantly and as always we are so proud of how they are respectful and polite all students are. The juniors had their groups first, with lots of new faces having joined the team. They danced brilliantly, working very well together and successfully managed to win the Junior Group Trophy! Under 10s rep Ellie said:
“This years Gloucester Festival was so much fun. Everyone in Under 10’s danced really well and it was lovely to dance with all my friends. Thank you to all the teachers for teaching and supporting us. I look forward to dancing again in Bristol!!!”
Halfway through the week saw our intermediates take to the stage once again with some new faces competing for the first time. Once again, they performed fantastically, and they too came away with the Intermediate Group Trophy! 10-14s Rep Emily said:
“My time at Gloucester festival this year was thoroughly enjoyed as I spent it with all of my friends, having fun and working hard. I felt very proud and happy dancing together on stage in all groups, solos, duets, and trios. As 10-14s ambassador I was very proud of everyone’s hard-work and support for one and other. This was the first festival of the year for this team and the effort put in was amazing, which lead to us winning the inter group trophy. This was an amazing opportunity for everyone involved and hope everyone came away happy and proud. Well done!”
We put our seniors to a challenge this year as we also decided to make our way to West Midlands Dance Festival for the first time! Lots of them enjoyed the experience of competing against new schools in an All England qualifying competition and again they danced beautifully, achieving qualifying marks on all groups entered! It was a busy week as they came together again on Friday to dance together at Gloucester, which for five of our seniors will be the last time! Head Girl Lily said:
“Wow, wow, wow! What a week half term was for our festival teams!
The seniors went to West Midlands and tried this festival for the first time. We took our group dances there, and lots of seniors also represented JMDS in the solo, duet and trio sections. They took the challenge on brilliantly, and we all certainly grew from stepping outside our comfort zone. Everyone worked really hard and adapted well to a different environment, competition and process. Huge well done to everyone involved.
Back in Gloucester the rest of the school were busy working hard and challenging themselves to be the best they could be too!
The under 10’s, and 10-14 groups did incredibly well in their sections, showing fantastic teamwork, supporting each other and having lots of fun on stage.
Each and every dancer worked really hard, challenged themselves and representing JMDS brilliantly. Thank you, as always, to our amazing teachers and to all of the parents and helpers who make this happen for us.
Team JMDS makes us all very proud indeed
”
A special shout out to Grace Buxton for winning the lyrical trophy, Matilda Marsden the Song and Dance, Isabelle Blake the Under 10 Classical Trophy and Eliza Griffiths the Junior Ballet Championship.
Just a short two weeks after the festivals we were invited to be a part of the Cheltenham BID festive launch helping to spread some festive cheer celebrating the turn on of the Christmas lights! Our Under 10s and 10-14s were excited at the chance to be a part of this- supported by head girl Lily. We loved having the opportunity to perform some of our festival dances again, alongside a festive finale with over 50 students all dancing together!
The end of the term saw lots and lots of our students taking exams in ballet, modern and tap. We had three full days and three separate examiners, alongside lots of extra coaching sessions, with many of our students taking an exam for the very first time! Although it can be a nerve wracking day all students seemed to have a very positive experience coming out with big smiles and great results. A big thank you to the teachers for all of your creative hair styles making the students feel their best for their exams- some students managed to keep their plaits in for a week!
Alongside our graded exams this term was a very busy time for our Dance Centre with 9 students successfully taking their Unit 4 practical exam in Modern or ballet. With over 20 students currently enrolled it is an exciting year for the Dance Centre and we are very proud of all of the students for their wonderful results!
Last weekend saw a fantastic finish to the year with our Christmas party, generously facilitated by Performance Workshop. Throughout the course of Saturday we held two parties at the studio, two workshop classes and an evening party at St Luke’s that was thoroughly enjoyed by all! Games, dancing, food and many loo roll snowmen were made with every student leaving with a big smile (and possibility some face paint or a glitter tattoo!) Miss Lauren made some amazing cupcakes that tasted just as great as they looked- thank you Miss Lauren! The evening party featured a fantastic disco, with all of our students enjoying dancing outside of the studio. A big hit of the night was the fabulous Photo Booth, which seemed very popular all night! All the students seemed to love having a souvenir to take home and the teachers enjoyed using it too. A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers, without whom events like this could not happen, we really appreciate it!
Please check the website for a slightly updated timetable!
From all of us here at JMDS we wish you a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone back at the studio when classes resume Monday 8th January!