On Saturday 6th April a group of students took part in the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare in Schools Festival at Middleton Grange School.

Zander Moffat, Isaac Jeffries, Josh Metzger, Stacey Holland, Isla Tovey, Evangeline Arthur, and Braedyn McHugh represented Kaiapoi incredibly well, showing pride in their school and their mahi, as well as upholding other performers' mana.

The students presented a 15-minute scene from Much Ado About Nothing where Benedict overhears Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato pretending that Beatrice is desperately in love with Benedict. (Note: Shakespeare is complicated and to learn 15 minutes worth is no small feat!)

These excellent humans should be incredibly proud of themselves, and I am bursting with pride as their Drama teacher.

There were 16 entries for this festival in total, with probably 150 students taking to the stage.

Our own year 11 thespian, Evangeline Arthur, received one of two coveted Best Actor awards. This is a huge honour and very well deserved. Evangeline directed parts of the performance too, as well as playing Benedict.

As a group, we won the "best bad singing" award - an award made specifically after our performance as the talented Isaac Jeffries shone in his role as Balthasar who sings terribly for the Prince.

One 15-minute and one 5-minute scene goes through to the National Festival later in the year. Cashmere High School and Christ's College took out this year's places - well deserved we agreed.

Celia Breen - Drama teacher