Shows and Performming Arts
Last years highlights
NBA’s Got Talent
Auditions for our first show of the year are held at the beginning of October in the main Theatre. We welcome students from all year groups, and all talents! In previous years we have had singing, dancing, comedy, magic and even sword swallowing! 8 acts are put through to the final, where they battle it out for the win, in a fully produced show under the lights. Audiences vote on the night for the winning act who then take home the trophy for the year.
Christmas Show
As the Autumn term draws to an end, Performing Arts hold their Christmas show celebrating our students’ talents. Students involved either have attended extra-curricular opportunities during the term, are members of our prestigious dance companies or have shown promise in their lessons. Each year has a new theme, with rehearsals taking place after school. Tickets for this professionally produced show go in sale at the end of November.
Annual School Production
Each year, NBA takes on the challenging, but rewarding task, of a fully produced musical. Auditions take place in October and the final cast is announced just before the Autumn half term break. Hundreds of students audition each year, so casting these shows if very challenging! Rehearsals take place weekly, and the final show is around Easter time. Students will perform to 3 sold out shows and also 1 performance to our local primary school children who are invited to NBA to watch. This production is not one to miss out on!
Summer Show
This fun show at the end of year is a celebration of our students who have dedicated their time and improved their talent over the Academic year. The summer show is led by students who perform their own work and creations. It is also an opportunity for students who aren’t sure to get involved in a highly supportive environment, in preparation for the next academic year. To be involved in this show, students should attend extra-curricular clubs in the Summer Term and/or speak to a member of the Performing Arts Team.
Highlights from last Academic Year
September
Performing Arts students entertained prospective students and parents at our annual Open Evening. Alongside catering by Aspens, visitors enjoyed dance and music from the atrium, with a wonderful display of team spirit and collaboration throughout the event. Students prepared performances from the previous year, and created some new, original pieces to demonstrate their talents and the opportunities available at NBA
Following day, students entertained Primary School students at the Kingsbury Partnership ‘Commonwealth Games Legacy Event’ (postponed from June 2022). Students performed 2 dance pieces and a Michael Jackson medley sang by Year 10 student Kian as part of the opening ceremony. Our Year 10 Sports Leaders were also in attendance at Moor Lane Sports Ground to lead the organised sporting activities as part of their Sports Leaders Award. The students worked hard to prepare for this event and did a brilliant job with high praise from the visiting teachers and organisers.
October
Lana, Kian and Divya took the win at NBA’s Got Talent. 8 acts successfully auditioned and made it to the final where they competed for the coveted trophy. Due to the amount of talent at auditions, many students were put together into groups for the final – X Factor Style – and demonstrated commitment and resilience in rehearsals to prepare for the final.
November
NBA hosted and won the first edition of the ‘Spark Active Dance Competition’ for local schools. The winning routine was ‘You Will Be Found’ highlighting online bullying, how you are not on your own and you should reach out. NBA should have moved onto the National finals but were unable to participate due to an already organised trip on the same day. We hope to retain our title in 2023 and take our place at Nationals! Congratulations Tashana, Paris, Olivia, Paige, Temiyah, Kimmi, Jayda, Amy, Maddison, Genevieve, Erin, Paineton, Mimi, Saumya, Paige, Kyrah.
December
NBA was filled with celebrations during December. Our wonderful students provided breaktime entertainment singing from the balcony much to everyone’s delight and the year finished with our Christmas Show; 16 high quality numbers of song and dance performed to a sell-out audience – standing room only!
January
KS4 and KS5 students attended ‘Frozen the Musical’ in preparation of their drama GCSE and GCE courses, where as part of their written examination students are required to analyse a piece of live theatre discussing all aspects of the production. With incredible set design, imaginative lighting, and fabulous costumes, students were instantly able to put effective points together, scrutinising the directors and designers’ choices.
February
Our Year 8 football team, coached by Mr Duckers, succeeded in their semi-final and advanced to the final of the … tournament, beating Plantsbrook 7-4 in a well fought match with excellent skill and team work on display. The team have been brilliant all year and narrowly missed out on taking the win in the final. Well done Abdulbasit, Zeph, McKenzie, Baboucarr, Dylan, Ryan, Leondro, Awil, Jayden, Owen Raheem, Quan, Anointed, Mohamed and Ahmed.
March
Our Year 7 girls demonstrated their sporting talents during March at various events. They took 2nd place in the ‘Aston Villa Kicks Tournament’ which aims to develop a sporting habit for life, bringing together communities and to create youth-led responsive projects with a culture of volunteering; participation in this event kick started a partnership with Aston Villa at NBA to provide opportunities for our students. Later in the month, our Year 7 girls also beat Fortis Academy and St Edmund Campion in netball on consecutive weeks. In the last week of the Spring Term, nicknamed ‘Show Week’, the cast of High School Musical dazzled audiences in 4 sold out shows. Students in all 7 year groups dedicated their time weekly after school and their own time to rehearse and ensure that this production was one to be remembered! With over 10% of the whole school auditioning, 65 lucky students made the cast and became part of the biggest event on the Performing Arts calendar. We are so proud of these students who overcame various challenges, including strike days and examination commitments to wow audience’s night after night. Additionally, as part of our primary school engagement, we invited students from our local feeder schools for a special viewing of the show with a cast ‘Q and A’ afterwards. We were also delighted to welcome back Adrian De Redman, representing the Columba Trophy, who has invited NBA to the finals at the Birmingham Council House in September for achieving a mark over 90%; you may remember we won this trophy in 2019!
April
Our Year 11 OCR Sport students enjoyed a chance to try some outdoor adventure sports as part of their course. Students pushed themselves outside their comfort zones, and showed a true display of team spirit as they took on the daunting tasks of abseiling and kayaking down the rapids. Our Year 10 football team advanced to their own final in the ‘New Horizons Tournament’. The team, coached by Mr Johnstone, had an epic run to the final, capped off with a 7-5 win on aggregate against Fortis Academy in the semi-final. Well done Dan, Emmanuel, AJ, Marshal, Caleb, Anik, Rogers, Gianni, Dotun, Grant, Josh, Alfie and Jordy.
May
West End smash hit ‘Heathers’ toured to the Alexandra Theatre and we couldn’t resist organising tickets for our KS4 and KS5 students who have committed to extra-curricular opportunities this year and supported the faculty. A weekday treat; enjoyed by all!
June
The Kingsbury Partnership hosted their second ‘Commonwealth Games Legacy Event’ where, like September, our Performing Arts students wowed in the opening ceremony, and our Year 10 Sports Leaders once again led fantastic sporting events for the primary students to get involved with. It was a pleasure to see the increased confidence our students had gained, knowing exactly what was required throughout their event – dealing with time changes, fluctuations in weather and adapting their activities based on the students needs in each group they had. In an effort to provide students with opportunities, Miss Taylor and Miss Brown hand selected performers for this event based on effort in their curriculum lessons. It takes a lot of confidence to perform in front of a crowd and we hope that these students now realise their potential and get involved with our shows next year!
Performing Arts alumni Josh Bricknall returned to NBA to deliver a drama workshop for our students with his new company @RawTalentYT. The company provide classes and summer workshops for students who love Performing Arts in an aim to develop their confidence and skills in performing and devising. Our Year 7 and 8’s had a fabulous time!
Sports Day returned to the Alexander Stadium for the first time since 2019 for an event that embodied our values of ‘team spirit’ and ‘thinking big’. For the first time, students competed in their houses – Delta, Atlantis, Saturn, Falcon – in events both track and field, hoping to accumulate the most points over the day. The whole day, not spoilt by a little bit of rain, was a perfect display of what it is to be a student at NBA. All students supported each other, stepped in to participate in events where needed, and ensured that Sports Day was a roaring success. Well done to House Saturn who took victory, with captains Gianni and Demi collecting the trophy on behalf of the team.
July
The last event of the year for the ‘Faculty of Sport and Performance’ was our inaugural awards evening where we celebrated the achievements of our students from the past academic year. An invite only event; attendees dressed for the special occasion receiving their congratulations from staff in an evening that will not be forgotten. Alumni student Mo Faal, who recently signed for Doncaster Rovers and started against Everton in the Carabao Cup, opened our event, presented awards and took photos with all of our guests much to the envy of other students. It was a difficult decision for faculty staff to decide the winners as we have so many fantastic students however our 2023 winners are:
- Year 7 PE Award: Kye Murphy
- Year 7 PA Award: Raessa Collins-East Rehman
- Year 8 PE Award: Camilla Dvilevic
- Year 8 PA Award: Paineton Robinson
- Year 9 PE Award: Oliver Ritchie
- Year 9 PA Award: Noah Beason-Entwistle
- Year 10 PE Award: Chloe Shergold
- Year 10 PA Award: Lily O’Prey
Unsung Hero’s: Oliver Fisher, Wania Rehman, Divya Kaur, Sport Leaders: Emmanuel Awotwe-Pratt, Leah Liddington, Chloe Shergold, Mirhran Bahmakani, Alfie Broadhead, Tendekai Mafemba, Cally Travis, Caleb High, Anik Khosla, Jordy Sambayi, Josh O’Neill, Tare Mafemba, Taish Richards, Dotun Akomolafe, Demi Webley
- Junior Team of the Year: Year 8 Football
- Senior Team of Year: Year 10 Football
- Ensemble Performance of the Year: “You Will Be Found”
- Performing Arts Academic Achievement: Amy Harrison, Kimmi Lane, Crystal Banks, Isabella Amuri, Jayaun Brown,
- Sporting Academic Achievement: Leah Liddington, Taish Richards, Sam Green
- Female Volunteer of the Year: Stefania Pignoni
- Male Volunteer of the Year: Nathan Nixon
- Debut Performance of the Year: Kyrah Parkes
- Solo Performance of the Year: Vladimirs Kotegovs
- Male Sports Day Performance: Alfie Broadhead
- Female Sports Day Performance: Paula Maya
- Male Rising Star in Sport: Daniel Bartley
- Female Rising Star in Sport: Ava Bailey
- Special Achievement Award: The Campbell’s: Kay, Onyx, Ebonnie
- Special Achievement Award: Kian Haden
- Junior Musician of the Year: Mikey Porter
- Senior Musician of the Year: TJ Weir-Rooke
- Junior Actress of the Year: Mimi Mafemba
- Senior Actress of the Year: Fiona Perndoka
- Junior Dancer of the Year: Maddison Brown
- Senior Dancer of the Year: Paige Wilson
- Female Sports Personality of the Year: Demi Webley
- Male Sports Personality of the Year: Caleb High
- Outstanding Commitment to the Faculty of Sport & Performance: James Sedgely
- Outstanding Commitment to the Faculty of Sport & Performance: Tashana Rookwood