Sennockian 2018-2019 | Page 122

A mnesty I nternational A busy year of fundraising and campaigning, in which the school’s first Lip Sync Battle saw Mr Shelley and Mr Harris take the teachers’ prize. Our main event this year was hosting the school’s first Lip Sync Battle. Weeks of teamwork and planning helped shine a light on the lack of political freedom in Saudi Arabia. Over 300 people joined us in the Pamoja Hall, and we raised more than £1500 for Amnesty as well as the CAIRN Trust which funds rural schools in Nepal. With recent cases in Saudi Arabia like the imprisonment of campaigners for women’s rights, we are proud to support Amnesty International’s work in ensuring that the silenced have a voice. The panel of staff and student judges had an extremely difficult job as each performance (from eight staff and 18 students) demonstrated significant lip sync skills along with the ability to inhabit or remake anew the personas of their chosen performers. Ultimately Mr Shelley and Mr Harris won the teachers’ category with their moving rendition of ‘See You Again’. But in the end it was the Upper Sixth group of Maria Ruhan, Alexia Marza, Imme Van der Plas, and Marie-Therese Gaar who won the judges’ hearts with their sparkling take on the Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’. This was just one highlight in a busy year of fundraising with ever-popular pick-n-mix and cake sales. We also wrote letters to global leaders, signed petitions and made posters to try to end terrible human rights injustices, including a discriminatory bill in Guatemala, mass execution in Saudi Arabia, and child separation in the US. Another highlight was Amnesty speaker Harriette Douglas (OS 2009) who came in the Summer term to share her story with us. Her experiences in the field of human rights and the charity sector were incredibly insightful and inspiring. Students from across Middle and Upper School stepped up and dazzled the stage, including Charan Peddu from Year 9 who came a close third, and Andrei Golovanov from Year 11 who came second. 116 TRIPS, CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES Gabby Tan, Lower Sixth