House Music 2025

This week has been a celebration of the House system with two excellent opportunities to make your House proud.

This morning was our annual Prep House Music competition, in which all 6 Houses perform a song within a theme. There are props, there are solos, and there is an incredible amount of singing. The theme this year was Disney songs and here is my amateur review of how the morning went.

With expert judging from Mr Heard – Head of Year and Music Teacher at the Senior School, and leader of the Junior Band – alongside Sixth Form musicians Ollie and Anna, the panel was in capable hands. Our chief compères, Chloe and Tade, also in the Sixth Form and seasoned Senior School performers, brought flair and confidence to the stage making it clear we were in for a truly professional show.

First were the soloists, carrying the pride of their House on their shoulders.

Olivia-Rae (Year 6) in Lawrence kicked us off with a drum solo of This is Me from the “Greatest Showman” and she really got the crowd going. The mood changed as Mark (Year 5) in Quennell performed Waltz in B Minor by Franz Schubert on the piano. His beautiful light touch transported us. Next was Annabel (Year 5) who then delivered an atmospheric vocal rendition of Castle on a Cloud from “Les Misérables” for Bayman House. Representing Heseltine, Scarlett (Year 6) sang Opportunity from “Annie”, the crowd hushed and she took us all on a journey through her performance. Up came Naomi (Year 6) for Tasker House who treated us to a very musical performance of Humoresque by Dvorak on the cello. And last but by no means least, Vikram (Year 6) of Brimley House, crafted a stunning rendition of The Legend of Ashiktaka from “Princess Monokoke” on the violin. Such a diverse range and clearly a great deal of time had been put into rehearsals.

Then, it was time for the whole House performance, each time filling the stage with a number of soloists, spoken parts, props and dance moves.

When Lawrence took to the stage we could sense a chill in the air, perhaps it was the frozen fractals or icy blast of cool composure. They gave us Let it go complete with two Olaf’s jeeing up the crowd. Quennell showed us A Whole New World through their incredible stage scene of rooftops and houses, not to mention the complex boy-girl solos. Bayman, all in their bright blue, delivered the mouthful of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, with some fantastic cockney accents and pointy elbow dance moves. Heseltine, including lobster hats and waves, took us Under the Sea for an energetic performance. And, if we needed any more convincing that a beach holiday was needed, Tasker transported us to a sandy island with How Far I’ll Go and their superb solos and choreography. Brimley brought the performances to a close with the well-loved Disney classic, The Bare Necessities. Mr Edwards and Mr Sawyer were spotted in bear and snake costumes making their way through the singing children and great fun was had by all.

We know that absolutely everyone had a brilliant time, the House team led by Mr Dobson and the musicians by Mrs Romhany made sure of it.

Of course, it is a competition. This year’s winner of Prep House Music 2025 is … Quennell. Congratulations to all.

And, after all that excitement, it was time for the Prep pupils and staff to join the Brentwood School Association fundraiser Race Across the Globe. Every pupil who took part added points to their House. Racing in their House colours definitely inspired a few extra turns on the track. Even our very youngest pupils contributed to the count, assisted by their weary legged teachers and teaching assistants, they made their lap around the athletics track.

The distance is still being collated and the fundraising tallied, so we’ll have to wait until next week to find out.

The sun is absolutely beaming, have a lovely weekend,

Alice Goodfellow