At the end of June, our Open Academy team competed for a nomination for the prestigious competition, New Zealand Young Performer of the Year.

They were successful in winning the bid and will now attend this National competition and represent Burnside High School in October.

This PACANZ competition has been cancelled the past two years due to COVID and so they are doing a mega event and have 75 teams attending, all with nominations from the past two years. It is even more of an honour, as out of these 75 teams, there are only a couple of High Schools who will partake. We were lucky enough to be selected for a nomination simply due to these particular students and their exceptional talent.

The following day, this same group of students auditioned for 'Christmas in the Park' to also represent Burnside High School. If successful, they will be a part of this awesome televised experience in November. They gave a stunning performance and impressed the panel of judges, who were all in shock so much talent could all be at ONE school!