Parents, staff, Old Girls and friends of the school performed alongside over 70 Senior School pupils in a Gala Concert to celebrate the school's 125th Birthday.

The Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist was a fitting venue of the concert as the new church opened for worship in August 1882; just a few months after the High School opened its doors to its first pupils.

The Concert was a celebration of music written by British composers in the past 125 years and included the work of Sir Edward Elgar, John Rutter and Gustav Holst.

The combined Senior Choir (Vocalise), Cantible and the Parents Choir opened the concert with an Anniversary Anthem composed by Angela Blackwell, our Director of Music specially for the concert, with the words taken from the liturgy at the school’s Birthday Service. The choir ended the concert with Rutter’s Gloria.

The concert also saw several solo performances including Sixth Former Charlotte Allen who played solo flute in John Rutter’s Suite Antique. This was the last public performance for Charlotte and other Upper Sixth students who will be embarking on their A Level exams shortly. The Sixth Formers received a special thank you during the concert in recognition of their support, dedication and enthusiasm within the Music Department.

The concert was a mammoth undertaking for the Music Department and all involved but they can’t rest yet – they have already started rehearsing for their next production John Pounds – the Musical. A celebration of the life of John Pounds a local Portsmouth man declared the inspiration for the Ragged Schools movement which offered free education to poor children.