News
The Musical Take-off raises money (and the roof!)
On Tuesday 17 May, our Year 12 BTEC Level 3 students completed their Unit 2/27 exam in style, by putting on a Cabaret evening, entitled The Musical Take Off.
They did this in collaboration with our Year 13 catering students, who served a three-course meal. All profits raised went towards The Young Lives Foundation.
‘The YLF provides therapy for children who are struggling with mental health and home experiences,’ said Year 12 student, Jessica. ‘We decided to raise money for them after speaking to Miss Blackman and hearing the incredible work they do with Year 10.’
Year 11 student, Max, hosted the evening and we had a huge raffle thanks to the local businesses around Maidstone. The food served was delicious and we raised a huge £612.50.
Our Performing Arts students performed with such professionalism and were excellent.
‘We started off the night with a dance from the musical Cats which we spent about 4 weeks rehearsing,’ Jessica told us. ‘We then had a couple of solos and duets followed by a group dance from Chorus Line. We finished with a couple of numbers from Come from Away which was less of a dance and more of an acting and singing based song.’
Stephan Gray, the CEO of YLF, was able to join us for the evening. ‘Just wanted to say a huge thank-you to Valley Park for hosting such a wonderful evening and choosing YLF to benefit from the funds raised,' he said. 'Once again, the students and staff were a credit to the school and made us feel very welcome and valued. I really enjoyed the food and the entertainment which brought home to me the high standards you set at the school and the talents young people have, despite a tough couple of years. I also enjoyed the informal chats with the students on our table who were very engaging and excellent company.’
We were then informed that a YLF friend had come forward and was going to match anything we raised! This took our total to £1,225.00!
As the evening was such a success, we plan on making this a yearly event. Thank you to everyone who came to support; Miss Blackman, Mrs Hitch and Mrs Knight are incredibly proud of the students, as always.