THE Clevedon School inaugural Performing Arts Awards featured more than 80 young people nominated for their incredible contribution and involvement in performing arts extra-curricular in the school and wider community.

There were hotly contested 20 categories, covering dance, drama, classical and rock music, technical theatre and musical theatre.

Awards were also presented for community contribution, leadership and teams of the year.

Oliver Davis, winner of KS4 Musical Theatre performer of the Year, said: “Having these awards for the first year is amazing because students are getting recognised for their incredible talents, hard work and passion in the performing arts.”

The evening was filled with showcase performances from Vocal Harmony Group, Elite Dance, Clevedon Youth Theatre and Clevedon Youth Musical Theatre.

There were stunning performances from Katy Read, of the Clevedon Music Department and alumni Sol Nicholson, about to embark on a tour of China as Aladdin.

Clevedon School was also joined by professional singer-songwriter Harrisen Larner-Main, including a collaboration with Josh Warren-Cox, who won the ‘Commitment to the Performing Arts’ award.

Harrisen, from Weston, rose to fame on BBC’s The Voice in 2019 and works as a singer song writer and producer in Bristol.

Polly Cleave, head of music, said: “The awards evening was a wonderful opportunity to publicly thank and celebrate the students who commit so much of their time to work with us throughout the year and to share our joy in their achievements with their friends and families."

Debbie Morgan, lead innovation in performing arts, said: “It was such an outstanding opportunity to share our vision and ethos and the excellence that our young people create throughout the year.”

KS4 Student of the Year Amy Reed said “We are an extremely lucky school to have the plethora of opportunities that we do, and I can only hope that there are plenty more to come for all students wishing to be involved!’’

The most prestigious award of the evening was the ‘John Wells Award for School Lifetime Commitment to the Performing Arts', which went to Des Coghlan-Forbes for his contribution across all performing arts disciplines, leadership, community involvement and being a positive role-model for young males passionate about dance.

John Wells, former chief executive of Clevedon Learning Trust and former headteacher at Clevedon School, said: "All the staff, students and families should feel exceptionally proud of their achievements and it was my honour to present a trophy at this prestigious event.”