Front Page News

In October 2018, the difficult decision was made to close the school in order to allow for fumigation to remove the false noble widow spiders which had appeared around the building. Students and teachers worked hard to ensure learning was still possible during this time, working off-site at NewVic or at The NCS or using Google Classroom at home.

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The Music department thought that this unusual turn of events would make an interesting musical and Ms Brown wrote ‘Spider! The Musical’ for year 7 Theatre School. The musical premiered on the 5th July, weaving an entertaining fantasy narrative out of the arrival and departure of the spiders. The students performed the clever and witty material brilliantly – singing, playing instruments, dancing and acting – showing great confidence and professionalism.

Well done to all, and a huge thank you to Ms Voisey, Ms Brown, Ms Lungu, Mr Morgan and all others who supported the event.

We are very proud of our music department and thrilled to see this great article in Educate (the National Education Union’s magazine) featuring Amy Haynes, Director of Music.

The full magazine can be seen here.

Poetry Recital Competition

On the 13th June we hosted a fantastic Poetry Recital Competition with a very inclusive spirit; some incredibly accomplished performers, alongside students for whom this was a huge challenge which they tackled with great resilience and effort. The photo shows our deserving winners, although all students should be commended for stepping out of their comfort zones and up onto the stage. We encourage all students to participate in extra curricular clubs, events and competitions in order to broaden their experience and develop their confidence in a range of different contexts; participation also helps them to earn the Character Award.

Successful Peformance at The Southbank Centre

On Sunday 23rd June, talented musicians and actors from Lister and our partner schools performed ‘Full Circle’, the Community Opera, in collaboration with Newham Music and Counterpoints arts, at the Southbank Centre as part of Refugee Week 2019. A packed audience including proud parents, carers and teachers filled the Clore Ballroom in The Royal Festival Hall for an audio-visual feast, including new drama performances and a background film piece, as well as songs written collaboratively with our students. The students were outstanding, representing our school and borough exceptionally well. Our next performance will be at The Royal Albert Hall on the 12th November!

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This week the Dance Department welcomed back two of their own……

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Ex-dancers Joseph Yvan Toonga and Michael Salami came into talk to and teach the current year 10 GCSE Dance group and give then their expertise as performing arts professionals

On Wednesday, Joseph told the group about creating work touring and teaching around the world, most recently Italy, Brazil and Singapore with his dance company Just Us Dance Theatre. Joseph and his company will be performing his new work ‘Born to Manifest’ at the Place, London School of Contemporary Dance in November. Several Lister students will be able to participate in a workshops leading up to this project. Joseph embarks on a major project in August with the National Youth Dance Theatre. Exciting News!

Of the dance workshop Emmanuella said ‘It’s great. Really hard, but ……’ Izabela said ‘It’s really challenging but I am trying my hardest’

On Thursday, Michael told the group about working in the Theatre in on TV and films. He went to New York to study acting at the Stella Adler School and then he got a part in the BBC 3 comedy Just a Couple and was in the soap Hollyoaks playing Shane Sweeney for two years. In 2017 Micheal won the Best Actor award at the UK Entertainment Awards. Michael returned from America yesterday, where he was he just finished filming a big role feature film for DC Entertainment. Exciting News!

‘It was good to hear their stories’ said Vera
Tiago said he ‘found both ex-students’ visits inspiring’ and that ‘you need to organise some more Ms Coke’

Scholars Challenge Day

On the 10th May we brought together high attaining year 9 students from Lister and our NCST partner schools, Rokeby and Sarah Bonnell for a Challenge day with a Current Affairs theme. We were very lucky to have guest speakers: Ayshah Tull of ‘Newsround’ fame, now working for Channel 4, and Katie Satchell from ITN productions who worked on ‘Show me what you’re made of’. Students heard about how they had achieved their professional goals and asked them questions about the skills they had developed through school, University and working life. They then had the opportunity to develop their own skills through mock interviews, a networking lunch and a group competition to create a news broadcast. They developed their confidence, team work skills and understanding of current affairs over the course of the day and really impressed us with their effort and attitudes throughout.

We hope that our Muslim students have enjoyed their Eid celebrations today. Please remember that Lister authorises only ONE day of absence for religious observance, so we look forward to all students arriving punctually for 8.25am tomorrow. Thank you.

Public Speaking Success

On the 2nd May Faris Qureshi performed a speech about the power of art in the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge regional final.

Caroline Clark, Regional Manager said ‘The standard of speeches was excellent and all speakers should be proud of their achievement in being one of the 19 Finalists from 650 trained in Newham in this year’s project’.

While Faris did not win, the judges were hugely impressed by him and felt his speech was eloquent and original. It was passionate, persuasive and confidently delivered and he demonstrated incredibly impressive public speaking skills, great maturity and composure.

Well done Faris!