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?’”