Students rock out at Battle of the Bands

Following last year’s success, the ultimate Rock and Pop competition has returned! Over 100 pupils took part from across our family of schools for the first musical event of the year, the Battle of the Bands. 

This specialised competition is offered alongside the other Annual Inspiration Trust competitions including the Piano and Annual Music Competitions, with an aim to encourage young people to get more involved with music, and a chance for avid Rock & Pop musicians to showcase their prowess in their instruments. 

With more entrants this year, the competition was strong, and every musician played to the best of their ability, impressing other bands, staff, and judges alike! This was an opportunity for not only pre-existing bands to hone their musical skills, but also to give those who may have been newly-formed the chance to compete and gain more experience performing in front of an audience. 

Students from nearly every secondary school in the Trust took to the stage, alongside some of our talented sixth formers, coming together to not only perform cover versions of their favourite songs, but also showcase their original songs. The musicians performed on a variety of instruments and not just those that are traditionally in the rock and pop genre. For example, bands consisted of drums, guitar, keyboard and bass, as well as trumpet, violin, bassoon and vocals.  

Winners were once again picked by a panel of music professionals, consisting of both internal and external members including the Director of Music in the Trust, John Stephens and Trinity’s UK&I Business Development Manager – Music & Performing Arts, Toby Davies, who is also a Rock & Pop drummer himself.

A full list of the winners is below, alongside the additional prize of ‘Band of the Year’: 

KS3 Cover Song - Woolly Mammoths (Hethersett Academy) 

KS3 Original Song - Fearless (Cromer Academy) 

KS4 Cover Song - : (Thetford Academy) 

KS4 Original Song - Apollo (Cromer Academy) 

KS5 Cover Song - The Mr Hayes Fanclub (Thetford Academy) 

KS5 Original Song - Jorge Amar (Thetford Academy) 

Secondary Mixed-Age Band KS3-5 - JAC Girl Band (Jane Austen College) 

Staff Cover Song - Us (Thetford Academy) 

Band of the Year - Woolly Mammoths (Hethersett Academy) 

John Stephens, Director of Music, said: 

“I’m so impressed by the quality and quantity of bands that we saw today. There was over double the amount that performed at the Battle of the Bands event last year and over 100 pupils taking part, which has made for an amazing day of performances.” 

Inspiration Trust is committed to giving our pupils the opportunity to explore music and encourage them to gain confidence in their skills. We are proud that multiple bands across our schools entered the competition, where they competed in a supportive environment, and showcased their amazing talents. A big well done to everyone involved in the competition!