insideKENT Magazine Issue 37 - April 2015 | Page 143

EDUCATION

Ed Sheeran supports school’s charity single

Rachel Ward
with Ed Sheeran

Rachel Ward

International superstar, Ed
Sheeran, has lent his support to
a school’s charity single recorded
by one of its students who met
the singer- songwriter at one of
his concerts.
The Brit Award-winner has featured the song,
"Soldier, Soldier", on his website for his millions
of fans to enjoy and download from iTunes; the
song commemorates WW1 and is raising money
for Care for Casualties (The Rifles’ Charity) and
ABF (The Soldier’s Charity).

The Duke of York’s Royal Military School
(Dover, Kent) asked student Rachel Ward, 14,
to record the song – unsurprising, as her father
is a serving member of the British Army.
Rachel, who is a huge Ed Sheeran fan, said:
“While it was amazing to meet Ed Sheeran and
record "Soldier, Soldier", it’s important to
remember those who gave their lives in the
military, and their families that are now left without
a husband, father or son.”
The song was written by local songwriter, Vida
Ivatt, who sent it to the Duke of York’s Royal
Military School’s music department in the hope
that it would play it.

Major David Cresswell, director of Military Music
at Duke of York’s Royal Military School, said:
“This is a brilliant opportunity to raise funds for
two worthy military charities. We’re also hoping
to get the song published into sheet music, so
that other schools around the nation can enjoy
the song themselves.”
To hear "Soldier, Soldier", click on the YouTube
link under the news section on the school website,
www.doyrms.com. Here, you can also view the
students' visit to the battlefields of Flanders and
their taking part in the Service of Remembrance
at Menin Gate.

Kent College
is hitting the right note
A group of talented Canterbury School children were
spotted on BBC1 this March.
The choristers
from Methodist
School, Kent
College,
Canterbury, won
a place in the
semi finals of the
prestigious BBC
Songs of Praise
Choir of the Year
competition.

Ashford Prep School
crowned winners
Talented linguists from Ashford Prep School have
won a prestigious languages competition, which
was entered by schools from across the South East.
The group of Year 6 children beat off competition from 14 other schools
to be crowned winners of the Love Languages Competition, which is run
by the City of London Freemen’s School in Surrey.
“I am incredibly proud of the children,” said teacher, Mrs Dot Hamilton.
“Their level of French is extremely high and they acted with confidence,
projected their voices well, and spoke clearly throughout. They have worked
very hard to achieve this, and they certainly deserve it.”
The children wrote and performed a play on the theme of shopping – in
French. They started rehearsing weeks before, after working on the play
with Mrs Hamilton who based it on the traditional Wizard of Oz story.
The winning group treated the rest of the Prep School to a performance
during a Friday assembly, after winning the competition the day before
back in February.

The children (from
school years 5, 6
and 7) were
judged against hundreds of other choirs from up and down the nation, and
the choir was selected as one of the top six in the country to take part in
the televised section of the competition.
The choir was very excited about its journey in March to the Midlands –
especially to be in the final rounds in front of the TV cameras.
In addition, the choir was selected as a