There was a magical end to the year, when students from a WNAT school celebrated the term’s successes with a trip to the pantomime.

In what has become an annual tradition, 81 Year 7 students from Smithdon High School visited the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton, where their ‘wishes were granted’ with a sparkling production of Aladdin.

“At Smithdon, we believe that capitalising on cultural enrichment for our students is vitally important, and we seek to ensure that students have many opportunities to engage with the arts throughout their time at Smithdon,” said Head of Drama Vicky Proctor, who organised the trip.

“Over the last 12 months, we have taken students to Lake Garda, London, and Norwich to participate in workshops such as mask making in Venice, a musical theatre extravaganza with the educational team from Wicked the Musical, as well as watching productions such as War Horse, and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

“This all begins in Year 7 with the annual trip to the pantomime, which we have been running since 2021.”

This year’s production stars Sam Littlewood as hero Aladdin, alongside Josh Rettie as Widow Twankey – while some of those on the stage had a link to Smithdon.

“The performance features dancers from the Rollason Stage School, where they have cast some of our students past and present, whom we were very excited to watch perform,” continued Mrs Proctor, who was accompanied by Head of Year 7 Alysha Moat, Year 7 Pastoral Manager Sally Collins, and Drama Teacher Kayleigh Brown.

“The pantomime is a fabulous way for us to end the school term on a festive note, as well as providing experience and new learning opportunities for our young people,” she added.

“As staff and students, we love it so much that when it comes to 2026… ‘We’ll have to visit again then, won’t we?’”

The Christmas wish of one of our pupils has come true, as no less than Sir Stephen Fry will be reading his story online this week.

Matthew Edwards, a pupil at Walpole Cross Keys Primary School, entered a competition with King’s Lynn estate agents Russen and Turner, who were looking for a very special festive story in under 500 words.

The competition was open to children aged under 11and was backed by Book Life Publications and Radio West Norfolk. As part of the prize, Matthew’s story will be read by the author and actor on Friday (19) and again by Radio West Norfolk DJ Simon Rowe on Christmas Day.

Sir Stephen has strong ties to Norfolk and is a former student of the Norfolk College of Arts and Technology – now the College of West Anglia. His family moved to Norfolk when he was young, and he later owned a home in the West of the county.

Assistant Headteacher Billy Overton said everyone was delighted for Matthew whose story was great.

“We are very proud of Matthew and his excellent story – it really was a pleasure to read. We’re grateful to Russen and Turner for the opportunity they gave the children, and to Book Life for the prizes. They have come in really useful for us, especially as we are refreshing our library and continuing to develop children’s love of reading. 

“We’re also excited to hear Stephen Fry read the story.”

It tells the story of Edwin the cheetah who lives in Africa and dreams of snow. Santa heard his wishes and helped his dream to come true.

Matthew, 7, said he was ‘really pleased to win’ and was especially happy with books for the prize.

Friday’s broadcast will be available via the Russen and Turner Facebook page.

His story, Edwin’s Christmas Wish, secured him a £50 Amazon voucher, a signed copy of Stephen Fry’s book  mythos, £150 of books and a further £500 of books for the school library.

London is calling for a group of legally-minded West Norfolk students who have made it to the national finals of a prestigious competition.

A tough day of competition at the Crown Court in Norwich resulted in a team from St Clement’s High School triumph in the Eastern Regional Heats for the Young Citizens Bar Mock Trial competition.

The school has seen international success at its first time of asking. Students won their way through to competing in Chicago in the Empire Mock Trial World Championship last year.

All the students involved put in hard work outside of school hours to ensure they are as prepared as possible for the competition.

This year is the second time a group of St Clement’s students are taking part, and when school returns  after the Christmas break they will begin fundraising for their trip to London and the national finals which are expected to be held in the spring.

There were three rounds in the Norwich heat, with the prosecution team completing two rounds and the defence team one. Each student was awarded a score out of ten for their performance by the judge. Criteria included clarity, argument quality, accuracy and timekeeping.

The St Clement’s team competed against seven others, most of which were sixth-form students - the contest is for young people aged 15 to 18.

Abby Morton, Head of Citizenship, said the competition was important for students as they benefit from gaining an in-depth knowledge of the criminal law system while seeing the same case from two different perspectives - the prosecution and defence.

Students take on the roles of prosecution and defence lawyers as well as judges and even court staff for the ‘trials’in the competition created by the Young Citizens organisation. Students are given resources, including written cases, to help them prepare their legal arguments.

“For those who study GSCE Citizenship, this knowledge will help them with their exam preparation, but for all those who took part, they will find the skills they have used useful, for example critical thinking, formulating arguments and how to support ideas with evidence,” she added.

A former student and member of the international team at the school, Olivia Simms, made ‘invaluable contributions’ to the current team by mentoring members and guiding them on how to prepare.

The competition is also important to help develop  self-belief and confidence in the participants, said Ms Morton.

“It is important for the confidence it has given these students to not only take part in a prestigious event, but also to realise that with enough hard work and determination, they were able to succeed in their goal to get to the nationals!”

There was festive fun for all ages at ‘A Family Christmas Concert’ on Sunday 14 December – with audience members also helping to raise more than £200 for the homeless in the area.

Hosted by Springwood High School, which is part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust, the West Norfolk Wind Orchestra (WNWO) performance was free of charge, with those attending invited to make a donation to charity.

“A Family Christmas Concert took place in the Drama Studio at Springwood and was attended by around 120 audience members,” said Robin Norman, who is Director of Music at both WNAT and Springwood, as well as founder of the WNWO.

“The concert was free to attend, with a retiring collection in aid of the Night Shelter in King’s Lynn – we raised over £220 for them.”

Mr Norman is conductor of the orchestra, while WNWO musicians also include members of staff from Springwood and other schools across the Trust.

“WNWO was formed by myself to meet the needs of the local musical community,” he explained. “It is the first community group under a Community Music Initiative, and has grown from 20 musicians to over 40 in the past two years.

“I conduct the group, but we do also have other staff members from across the Trust who play instruments and are involved. This includes staff from Springwood and West Lynn Primary, as well as many of our peripatetic tutors.”

WNWO concerts take place each term at Springwood, and this one had an especially celebratory feel in the run up to the holidays.

“All the pieces performed were either Christmas or family-orientated, so everything was suitable for children,” continued Mr Norman. “The highlights were definitely ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ (as used in Disney Fantasia with Mickey Mouse as the apprentice), and ‘Peter and the Wolf’.

“Our next performance is on Sunday 29 March, titled ‘Spectacular Classics’, where we will be performing the epic ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’, as well as other classical favourites.”

“Springwood is really proud to work with our local community on a number of different projects,” he added. “Our Community Music Initiative is there to work with local musicians and to bridge the gaps from the fantastic work being undertaken by organisations such as the West Norfolk Music centre, and higher-level organisations such as the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra.

“The Wind Orchestra is the first group in this, but we will be starting an orchestra in the same vein to help support the musicians in the area. The second group, the West Norfolk Pops Orchestra, will be starting rehearsals in 2026, and we welcome interest in being involved from String, Brass, Woodwind, or Percussion players who are Grade 5 standard or above.”

Young voices from across our schools came together to celebrate the season at the annual West Norfolk Academies Trust Christmas Carol Service.

The popular event took place at St Nicholas Chapel on Wednesday 3 December, and featured performances from around 250 pupils from across the primary and secondary schools within both the Trust and the Windmill Federation.

“The annual event is a traditional Christmas Carol Service with a selection of readings, a blessing from Canon Mark Dimond from the Minster, and also communal carols, as well as each group of schools performing a song on their own,” said our Director of Music, Robin Norman.

“This is the fourth time we have run this event, and it was my ‘brainchild’ to bring a more traditional feel to an event in the town,” he continued. “One that could bring together all of our schools, our parents, and the local community in general – something that would become magical and truly give the Christmas Spirit.

“We started with around 250 in the congregation for the first one in 2022, and this year there was ‘standing room only’, so I am absolutely thrilled how it has grown.”

Participating primary schools included WNAT members Clenchwarton, Gaywood, Heacham Infant, Heacham Junior, Snettisham, Walpole Cross Keys, and West Lynn, along with Terrington St John, Tilney St Lawrence, Walpole Highway, and West Walton from the Windmill Federation; while the WNAT high schools taking part were Marshland, St Clements, Smithdon, and Springwood.

“Many members of staff have been involved in the organisation, but a particular thanks to Emma Pearman in the Admin Team for her work on the logistics,” added Mr Norman.

“Also, a huge shout-out to all the teachers across all the schools who worked with the children and made it a truly memorable event. It really helps bring the community together and bring a magical start to the Christmas Season.”

Computing disasters, and the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) were on the agenda – along with missiles and monkeys – when WNAT students enjoyed an annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) event.

It was the fourth year that Springwood High School had hosted the STEM Christmas Lectures, which were open to students of all ages, with parents also invited to attend.

“The audience included students from across the school, with representatives coding from each year group,” said STEM Lead Victoria Mann.

“While all are welcome, special invites are provided to students that are taking part in STEM activities throughout the school, and those studying a STEM subject at Key Stage 5, including our biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, technology students, and computer scientists.”

This year’s speaker was Geoff Martin from Green Custard, a Cambridge-based consultancy that specialises in the Internet of Things, creating bespoke engineering solutions.

“Geoff gave great insight into careers in the computing sector, talked about some of the disasters that occur when things go wrong, and shared thoughts on the ever-topical question of AI – a real treat for all our budding computer scientists,” continued Mrs Mann.

“The event continues to be supported by Springwood’s Senior Leadership Team and Science Department. We were delighted to also include our Computer Science Department in this year’s event.”

Besides the talk from Mr Martin, there was a practical demonstration, which examined the science behind a classic physics question.

“The talk was complemented by an interactive session from Assistant Head Richard Thompson, who walked students through the physics explored via the Hunter and the Monkey Problem,” explained Mrs Mann. “Generating much excitement, electromagnets, projectiles, and toy monkeys came together in this famous scientific experiment.”

“The STEM Christmas Lectures continue to form a key component of our expansive STEM offering at Springwood," she added.

“A good understanding of STEM subjects drives up attainment for our students, gives them insights into the world of work, and a greater understanding of the career opportunities they might meet in the future.

“The lectures themselves allow students to interact with specialists in their field of interest, ask questions of people working in STEM now, and inspire all students to look beyond the classroom in these subjects.

“It also helps us to reach out to, and include, our parents in the subjects that really excite their children, further strengthening our school community.”