Information

The history of John Port School and a look into the future

A bit of history about the school and the hall
A bit about the school now and how big it is
A look to the future

The History Of The Band

When John Port Grammar School joined with its close neighbour Etwall County Secondary School and became a Comprehensive School in September 1965 Mr J Atkinson was appointed Head of Music. Mr J Atkinson been Head of Music at the Secondary School for just one year at this point and had started to organise peripatetic wind instrument lessons to add to the already existing String lessons. These expanded at the new comprehensive school and, from very small beginnings - with help from parents who came to play the larger instruments - the band was formed, it was invited to perform at local Garden Parties and for charities. No fee was charged and the band members were ferried to and fro by parents - who then paid for the privilege of listening to their offspring!!

Quickly the band grew in size, until in 1977 there were more than forty members. The entrance grade was Grade 3 or above. Also in 1977 the Melle exchange was set up. Melle is a town near Osnabruck in Germany. The Melle Band then came to England the next year and so the exchange has carried on, with each Band visiting the others country on alternate years. The Band carried on increasing in size and gradually the band became well known enough to be invited to perform alongside such celebrities as the BBC's Richard Baker and Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir Cathedral in aid of Barnardos and the N.S.P.C.C. The bands also had an important part to play at the school's annual Carol Service in Derby Cathedral.

In the early days the membership of the band was much enhanced by pupils from a "feeder" Primary School in Mickleover (Ravensdale), which was running its own Wind Band, and who arrived at JPS, aged 11 years, already competent enough to join the band. The band gradually developed over the years into what it is today.

Heads of Music/Band Conductors

Mr J Atkinson

In September 1965 Mr J Atkinson was appointed Head of Music, this was at the point that John Port Grammar School joined with its close neighbour Etwall County Secondary School and became a Comprehensive School. Mr J Atkinson after being Head of Music at the Secondary School for just one year had started to organise peripatetic wind instrument lessons. Mr J Atkinson set up the band and parents helped out by playing the larger instruments, from these small beginnings the band quickly grew. Not only did Mr J Atkinson set up the band, he also set up the very successful Melle Exchange. When Mr J Atkinson retired in 1995 the band was 120 members. The fact that the band, the exchange and generally music at the school is still very strong today is testament to the amount of effort that Mr J Atkinson put in.
Thank you Mr Atkinson for all your hard work over the years.

Mr A Losh

Mr Losh joined the school as head of music in 1995

Diary of Events

Below are some of the concerts that John Port Groups are performing

Pre Melle Concert
Saturday 18th October 2003, 7:30pm
Chatsworth Hall, John Port School
All Former band members welcome

John Port band Leave for Melle
2nd October 2003
John Port School

John Port band return from Melle
28th October 2003
John Port School

John Port School Carol Service
Tuesday 9th December 2003
Derby Cathedral
All Former band members welcome

The New Arts Block

When was it opened, what's there, etc

What's on now?

THE BAND NOW: The band continues to be a very successful group, playing at a variety of events from school fairs to concerts at Burton Town Hall. Now with the rehearsal room in the music block there's no more carrying the percussion gear half way across the school, this means that the rehearsals get under way much quicker. This helps, as the band is still as busy as ever especially during the summer at various out door events and around Christmas. Mr Losh aims to change the band's repertoire regularly so both the band and audience don't get bored of the same pieces over and over again, this means that the band has to learn the new pieces fairly quickly and keeps all the players on their toes!

What eles does the music department do in it's spare time?

SWING BAND: Mr Losh decided it would be good if the school had a Swing/Big band; the swing band is now a very successful group and amongst other things performs as the main part of the Cabaret evening. The cabaret evening for those who don't know is a chance for the smaller musical groups to perform, the cabaret evening is a less formal event with chairs and tables being set out and a buffet and drinks served.

JUNIOR BAND: Mr Losh has started a junior band; it allows pupils to play in a band without feeling out their depth in the main band. The Junior band is designed for pupils relatively new to their instruments and as well as JPS pupils it contains children from the surrounding primary schools to encourage them to join the main band when they are confident and a member of John Port.

SINGING: An area sadly lacking at John Port was the chance to sing, a variety of singing activities are now available, including lessons. This also helps when looking for people to fill the various parts in the musical.

ORCHESTRA: The orchestra continues to rehearse under the direction of Miss Smith. The orchestra does two major concerts a year, a New Year Concert and a summer concert. The orchestra now also takes place in the ever-popular Celebration of Christmas concert. Refer to the diary page for the dates of their concerts.

SMALL GROUPS: As well as the main groups there are smaller groups that are mainly run by pupils. Past and present groups that have been set up by pupils included brass ensembles, jazz ensembles, flute groups, wind quintets, the list goes on.

LESSONS: A variety of lessons are available to students, including Brass lessons, Vocal lessons, String lessons, etc. Fitting all the lessons in to rooms in the old block was hard but the new block has 3 custum built practice rooms, which enables more than one teacher to teacher at once.

Musicals

John Port has at the time of writing this performed 3 musicals. The musical is a chance for both the Drama and music departments to combine and show what they can do. It also gives a chance for those on the more technical side of the stage e.g. sound and lighting crews, to get involved with a big event that they can get their teeth into.

The first of the musicals performed was Joseph and his Technicolor Dream coat. As a first attempt with this new format to the school the end result was superb, the audience thoroughly enjoyed the show and we were nearly sold out for the week run. All credit must go to Mr A Losh, Mrs Humphries and the rest of the staff for pulling it off so successful.

A year later the chosen musical was Grease, after the success of Joseph the number of people auditioning was huge, the parts were handed out and the rehearsals began. This was a harder show to put together as we used a bigger cast, more extravagant staging, and definitely more dancing! It also proved more of a challenge for the technical crew (I can say that because I was involved with the sound - my blood pressure must have been sky high the week of the show!) but it also gave us the chance to play with lighting effects, etc. Again tickets flew for the shows and we were sold out every night. The performances were great and both the audience and performers enjoyed it. Again another round of applause to all the staff that helped bring the show to life

Two years later the show was cabaret

Photos to follow soon