National Schools Singing Programme

16/06/2026

It was another busy week in the Catholic Life of the College!

We started with a fantastic Cath Soc Junior meeting on Tuesday morning, where students welcomed our new teddy bear mascot. Name suggestions are very welcome!

On Wednesday, we celebrated lunchtime Mass with the 9E St Paul House RE class, led by Fr Festus. Fr Festus brought his usual energy and enthusiasm to the celebration, including some joyful singing which students always enjoy and join in with wholeheartedly.

The week concluded on Friday with a special opportunity to support the Trust Governors’ Mass celebrating the The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. We brought 28 choir members from the Leeds Diocese Youth Choir, led by Mr Perkinton and Mr Whitmore. The students were exceptional, performing challenging harmonies and creating a beautiful and uplifting sound throughout the Mass.

Our 3 KS3 altar servers also played an important role, helping transform the Halling Hall conference room into a prayerful worship space by setting up all the necessary liturgical items and assisting throughout the celebration.

A huge thank you to David Hymas from the Trust for organising and inviting us to be part of this special occasion. Thank you also to Mr Perkinton, Mr Whitmore, and Fr Paul for helping make the celebration such a success.

Well done to all our students who continue to represent the College with faith, commitment, and enthusiasm.

15/06/2026

15/06/2026

Members of our Diocesan Children's Choir were sounding beautiful in their rehearsal at the Cathedral Church of St Mary yesterday. They are looking forward to singing at Mass for the first time this Sunday June 14th at 9.30am. All are welcome.

15/06/2026

I was useless at sport.
One of the nicest things about singing in a choir was that I could still contribute to a team effort, even though it wasn't on the football field. JR
Good luck to the teams!

15/06/2026

15/06/2026

07/06/2026

How wonderful it was to have the newly formed liturgical choir from St Alphonsus' Catholic Primary School singing at the Chrism Mass, alongside children from the Middlesbrough Cathedral Choir, and members of the Diocesan Choir.

The children from St Alphonsus learnt the music under the direction of Choral Director Mrs Maxson, as part of the National Schools Singing Programme provision in the school. Read all about them in the current edition of Catholic Voice, The Diocese of Middlesbrough's monthly newspaper.

01/06/2026

The future of singing in Scotland is bright!

On Thursday 28th May, the University of Glasgow’s Memorial Chapel was filled with incredible music as three National Schools Singing Programme sites joined forces for a spectacular joint concert!

Huge congratulations to the brilliant young singers from:
• Diocese of Aberdeen: St Joseph’s Primary School Choir
• Diocese of Paisley: St John’s and St Michael’s Primary Schools
• University of Glasgow Children’s Choir

A massive highlight of the day was a powerful massed-choir performance of Ula Weber’s I’m Gonna Shine, where the children and the audience came together to accompany the music using Makaton signing.

An enormous thank you to the University of Glasgow for hosting us, our dedicated Choral Directors and school staff for their flawless organisation, and, most importantly, the children for giving us such a transformative afternoon of music.

27/05/2026