The Heathland School’s annual Charity Week certainly created a buzz. From the 11th to the 15th of February students and teachers alike went out of their way through all kinds of means in order to benefit 3 worthy causes. They were HAAYA; an organisation set up in 2001 aiming to help the ethnic minority of Hounslow, The Mo Farah Foundation; set up by the sporting hero and his wife to support those suffering due drought in East Africa and Link Ethiopia; working to improve standards of education in Ethiopia and raise cultural awareness between the youth of the UK and Ethiopia. Remarkably, Year 10 students were provided with the opportunity to write to those from a school in Gondar.

I can guarantee most members of the school community will have something in common. Their highlight of Charity Week. A yearly sell out. The one. The only. Strictly Come Bhangra. I know what you’re thinking. This is just another lame high school attempt at putting a spin on the shows we know and love. But this was so much more. There was Gangnam Style, insults and teachers taking their shirts off. All in the space of 45 minutes! So what is this madness? There are 2 shows. Male teachers and female teachers respectively. I saw the male teachers and loved every minute of it. They each paired up with a girl from the sixth form and performed breathtaking Bhangra routines. Each one containing its own unique element giving our 4 judges a tough decision.

Before it began, we could feel the tension rising. A well choreographed opening number definitely kicked off a promising show. The first two performers were no strangers to Strictly Come Bhangra and were hoping to prove themselves as worthy champions this year. We then had our first act. He sure had rhythm and moves to impress. Mr Tanner’s dance partner also entered the competition with injury; despite this nobody could have guessed. We then had the second of the PE teachers. Mr. Trendall put an interesting twist in to his routine. When we suddenly heard the tune of the infamous Gangnam Style, it put us on the edge of our seats and left many people confused. That’s not Bhangra (Psy is from the Far East, I’ll give him that). Despite his performance being awesome, Mr Trendall did receive some criticisms. Harsh.

Thirdly, we were warned to expect the unexpected. Mr Nwandison’s routine was kicked off with the distinctive voice of Vincent Price. Playing a monster before busting out some killer Bhangra moves gave him an edge over his opponents. Nobody could have predicted that our ICT teacher would storm into the lead. Closing the show was Mr Nash, the final PE teacher who is loved by everyone. After his performance, the demand for guidance counsellors definitely increased. His performance got off to an unusual start when he began to ballroom dance with the wrong girl. He then got reminded of where he was and why he was there before performing a breath taking routine. This spectacle was enough for him. The music moved half way around the world Mr Nash threw off his shirt. This was before raving solo to Sexy and I Know It and ending his shenanigans by sitting on, the ever dramatic judge, Miss Thorne’s lap. The crowds were divided between the final two acts. None the less Mr Nash was crowned a worthy champion. He described the experience as: “A lot of fun and great to see the whole buzzing raising money for charity!”

Everybody benefitted from all the events throughout school. Miss Khawaja from the Biology department was crowned female champion of Strictly Come Bhangra; just one of our lunch time events. Lots of money was raised and everybody enjoyed themselves as one student, Alisha Sahnan explained: “Inspirational! Fun! Exciting! These are only some of the words that describe Charity Week. It’s as the fact that we’re raising it for charity is enough of a drive to raise money! Strictly Come Bhangra was a bonus”.