Fit for a King

'The actors are ready and the stage is set. Are you ready?' We joined Henry looking back on his life with a little self-knowledge but not much humility!

After a few false starts, we were able to put on our most ambitious end of term entertainment so far - Henry V111 came to Windsor!

The Play Planning Committee of four of the more experienced children applied the 'sweet on a stick' method of planning (their name for it) of setting milestones towards their end date; and working back to plan in actions to achieve the milestones - to get us to our destination of putting on the play to our reduced sized audience.

All of the children took part in the research, the writing of the script, prop and costume making. We had dance, singing and music making, funny scenes and a poignant one with the sinking of the Mary Rose. We had multiple Henrys, The Pope, Thomas Moore, a doctor, an artist, King Francois, Queen Elizabeth 1st, a Field of the Cloth of Gold organiser and his retinue of helpers, a messenger, a monk, old sailors, two ghosts and excited onlookers and a newspaper seller. If the children could have had dry ice and a Wurlitzer organ, they would.

Performing on a proper stage was cancelled but parents helped to put up gazebos and we had a performing arena. One of our parents organised videoing of the whole thing so that the play could be shared with people who weren't able to come and from the end result, spent many hours editing during the summer break. Our volunteers were stunningly amazing throughout the whole process. And again, Five Star Taxis and Prezzos bailed us out of a difficulty with lunch delivery. It was a lovely way to celebrate an end of academic year.