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FAQ - Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall event will be a very exciting day for over 470 students involved but it is also a huge logistical task! We would therefore greatly appreciate your support in ensuring that everything goes as smoothly as possible. 

Please find below the information that parents/carers need to know in order to ensure their child is as prepared as possible.

If you have any further questions, please email anniversary@latymer.co.uk.

BEFORE THE EVENT

Do the performers attend lessons on the 13th March?
Performers will attend normal lessons in periods 1 and 2.

How do the students go to the Royal Festival Hall?
All students will be taken on coaches from the school to the Royal Festival Hall. The coaches will arrive there by 12.30pm, for rehearsals to start promptly at 1pm.

What do performers need to take?

  • It goes without saying but their musical instrument and relevant equipment (cello spike holders, mutes, reeds etc), plus any practice copies of the music that they have been given. Music used in rehearsals (including in orchestral folders) will be brought separately.
  • Musical theatre costumes.
  • Plenty of food and drinks to sustain them from around mid-morning to 7pm when the event starts.
    Please do not rely on performers purchasing food or drinks around the venue – the main RFH café is closed for building work and outside outings would require a staff member accompanying them and could quickly turn into a logistical nightmare with almost 500 students on site!
  • There will be a small food counter available to performers only, from 1pm to 6pm. There will be soft drinks, snacks and some pastries (the venue is cashless so plan this ahead).
  • Water (tap water available on site).
  • Books, homework and any other quiet form of entertainment (e.g. chess sets, cards) to keep busy during everyone’s rehearsals.
  • Mobile phones will be allowed during the afternoon (away from rehearsal spaces).
  • A spare school shirt, in case they need it.
  • School lanyard.
  • Don’t forget medication you would normally bring to school (e.g. inhaler, Epipen).
  • Card payment of some sort if you need to use the small food counter.

What do performers need to wear?

  • Year 7-11 students should come to school in their normal school uniform and will be wearing it on stage.
  • Sixth Form pupils must wear their concert uniform throughout the day.
  • Musical theatre performers will have specific rooms to change costumes – the rest of the performers will be in mixed dressing rooms.
  • Members of Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir must wear their music tie.  All other performers must wear a normal school tie (if your child joined us in the Sixth Form and doesn’t have a tie, please email anniversary@latymer.co.uk to let us know – we will lend themone on the day). 
  • No jumpers or school blazers to be worn when performing.
  • Smart black shoes and black socks.
  • School lanyards must be worn during the day, but not during the concert itself.

Will my child have to carry their instrument?
Students will bring their own instruments on coaches (larger ones can be stored underneath, smaller ones in the overhead compartments).
Double basses, tuba, euphonium and percussion will be taken separately to and from the venue. All other instruments must be taken home by pupils after the concert.

My child is observing Ramadan. How can you cater for that?
There is a multi-faith prayer room at the venue – students wanting to go to that room will be accompanied by an adult. Rehearsals for students will finish around 5.30pm – this gives students time to relax, eat, freshen up and rest before the event starts at 7pm.

Who to reach during the day?
Our emergency contacts on the day are:

  • Ms Cami, 07340 048 156
  • Ms Cobbett, 07542 030 863
DURING THE EVENT

Are photographs allowed on the night?
Please do not take pictures or film once the show starts. This can be off-putting for performers, and students and staff have worked hard for this event. Please respect this throughout the show.
The event is being professionally filmed – we will share details on that afterwards.

I have specific access requirements. 
For information on access at the venue, please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visit/access

I can’t find my tickets, what do I do?
Please check that you have the email containing QR codes (i.e. e-tickets) as soon as possible. If you can’t find them, please email anniversary@latymer.co.uk as soon as possible. Staff on the day will be extremely busy and may not be able to reply to your query quickly.

There will be no tickets available on the night at the doors so please do not come if you don’t have a ticket.

Is the event being recorded?
The event won’t be live streamed but we are recording it. More details on that after the event.

What time will the event finish?
The event will finish at the very latest by 10pm.

AFTER THE EVENT

Where do I pick up my child at the end of the event?
Once the event has concluded, we ask parents/carers to come and pick up their child at Level 4, in the area labelled “Green side bar” (see picture below). 
To avoid too much congestion in that area, please only one member per family in that area (there are large areas for other family members to wait on level 2).

If you are not attending the event but are coming to pick up your child, you need to be at the venue by 10pm at the very latest.
There will not be any Latymer staff at the venue after 10.30pm.

 

I cannot pick up my child at the end of the event. What do I do?
If parents/carers are not able to have someone pick their child at the end of the event, we have organised transport back to school. This is only for students whose parents indicated in the parental survey that they couldn’t pick up their child at the Royal Festival Hall and needed a coach back to school.

A family member still needs to come and pick up the student at the school. We would ask parents to be at school by 10.30pm so that there is no delay for staff who are accompanying the students.

If there is a family emergency and we unexpectedly cannot pick up, are there any contingency arrangements?
For last-minute family emergency meaning where no adult is present at the Royal Festival Hall, please make new arrangements. Then email anniversary@latymer.co.uk or message Ms Cami on 07340 048 156 to let us know.

We will not be able to organise transport home for individual children.

THE NEXT DAY

What time will school start on the 14th March?
We appreciate it will be a very exciting but long day for students and staff involved, so the Senior Leadership Team has decided that school will start at 11am (i.e. period 4) on Thursday 14th March.