Mrs Wallace took the opportunity to introduce herself, revealing that, despite her broad Northern England accent, she was born in Belfast. Her experience of moving to Newcastle as a young student and sounding very much like the odd one out gave her an early insight into the experience of international school students moving to foreign environments. She took languages at A Levels and spent a gap year working as an au pair in France, although discovered during that time that she wasn’t cut out for a life that involved a heavy focus on ironing!
Having spent more than 10 years in the Nord Anglia Education family of schools – in Puxi and Abu Dhabi – Mrs Wallace spoke passionately about the power of our network of 31 schools around the globe; teaching more than 20,000 students from 100 nationalities in 12 countries.
This family provides unique opportunities for Nord Anglia Education students, and last night, Mrs Wallace announced an exciting new initiative, the Global Orchestra, which will bring together the finest young musicians from campuses around the world to participate in a music summer school fully funded by Nord Anglia Education. More details will be revealed soon.
A highlight of the evening was performances by some our talented students. Priyanthika Adinamos and Mari Hagen Stoke opened the bill with a sneak preview of next week’s school production, Footloose, the duet “Learning to be Silent”. They were followed by the show’s stars Emiliano Dangio and Pia Herrera performing “Almost Paradise”. The students certainly whet the appetite for Footloose, and performed with impressive confidence and maturity.
From 80s pop to the classics, next up was Year 6 student and pianist Joung Jin Kim performing Debussy’s “Reflets dans l’eau”. Joung Jin’s fingers flew across the keys at lightning speed and the audience was enthralled. To finale featured violin virtuoso and Year 9 student Jason Shi who astounded all assembled with his mastery of Paganini’s “Caprice”. Jason illustrated just why he is in demand as a solo performer around China and is, as Mrs Wallace predicted, “a face to remember and… star of the future.”
Wine and cheese evenings will be regular events throughout the year, so keep an eye out on the school newsletter for dates.