Excellent! Sandy Bay Government School grabs Festus Toney Award

A loud cheer filled Peace Memorial Hall on Wednesday, when the Sandy Bay Government School was awarded the Festus Toney Award for Musical Excellence, for the second consecutive year.{{more}}

The primary school retained their titles of Zonal Winner in the Georgetown zone and Most Outstanding Choir.

As an added bonus, the Sandy Bay Government School will go down in history as the first school to win the Most Outstanding Original Carol, with their song “He’s the reason for the season”.

Their skillfully arranged and entertaining piece, which was written by teacher, Roseanne Baptiste, had the audience breaking out in a rousing round of applause.

Baptiste told SEARCHLIGHT that she was extremely happy that the school was able to capture the Festus Toney award once again.

“I’m happy… that we were able to maintain our standard and we are hoping to do so for the rest of the years to come,” she said.

Schools in the South Leeward zone seemed to dominate this year, with the Clare Valley Government School copping two awards – the Most Outstanding Instrumental and Most Outstanding Chorale Speech.

Education officer for Music Joffre Venner noted that there was a slight dip in participation this year and encouraged schools to allow their students to be active in the performing arts.

“The opportunity to perform should not be taken away from students,” the education officer said.

“Performing arts help to reward students and boost self esteem in unimaginable ways”.

Venner also took the opportunity to thank the Ministry of Education for encouraging the arts in schools, as well as the teachers who continue to work with students.

In her remarks, chief education officer Lou Anne Gilchrist stated that music is just as important as any other subject and that the Ministry is working towards restructuring the curriculum so that the subject can be offered in all grades and forms between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

“Boys and girls, I want you to know that the music industry is a viable means of survival…you can make a good living by being a musician,”she said.

“Music should not be something that you do after school. Unfortunately, that is how it has turned out, but we are trying to restructure the curriculum”. (BK)