Talented Sheffield students perform Hairspray at national school awards ceremony

The group, comprised of 26 students from Firth Park Academy, in Shiregreen, took to the boards to showcase their musical talents to an audience of over 1,000 pupils from schools around the country at the national Festival of Remarkable Lives, an inaugural awards ceremony run by the Academies Enterprise Trust.

The event aimed to recognise all different aspects of what it means to me remarkable, and celebrated some of the ‘remarkable’ talent on offer throughout the schools within the trust.

Dean Jones, Headteacher of Firth Park Academy, said: “I truly loved the opportunity given to our children to perform to a thousand strong audience of AET family members. All the hours of rehearsal, early mornings and late nights came together in a performance that made all of us so very proud. Every one of our children is remarkable and we saw this shine out so clearly.”

Members of the cast were equally positive about their performance, with some describing the performance as ‘amazing’, while others saying that performing on stage helped them conquer their fears.Julian Drinkall, Chief Executive of AET said: “The Festival of Remarkable Lives is all about celebrating what makes people remarkable. Our whole mission at AET is to inspire young people so that they can go on and lead a remarkable life.

“Firth Park’s performance of Hairspray was utterly brilliant, and everyone was so impressed with the talent on show on the stage. Huge congratulations to the whole cast.”

The awards took place at the Festival of Remarkable Lives, sponsored by Wesleyan, The Edge Foundation and Voyager, at the Derngate Theatre in Northampton.

The day was hosted by children’s TV presenters Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, and featured a programme of pupil performances.