"The Christchurch Dance Festival is one of the highlights of the Christchurch Competition and Festival Calendar. It’s a chance for a whole class of children to engage in physical activity in an artistic way whilst representing the school. A theme is set each year and our brilliant dance teacher, Christina, visits each school to deliver a dance workshop to the selected class with their teacher to start the rehearsal off. The class teacher then develops the dance to performance standard. All the schools then perform to each other at a dance morning at the De La Salle theatre at St. Peter’s School. This year for the first time we held an evening showcase so that parents could watch the show. The theatre holds 450 and it sold out within hours! The evening was a resounding success and one which the children and myself will never forget!"

"I really enjoyed all the sessions. There was brilliant content from knowledgeable colleagues and I learnt so much. Thank you."

"The dance festival provides the perfect platform for children to gain greater confidence, respect, leadership and physical development in a fun exciting and engaging way. At SIS we have seen a great number of children develop as a person during the process of the dance festival in particular showing an increase in confidence, resilience and creativity. It has also lead to children becoming more interested in dance and wanting to continue in school once the festival had finished. In 2024 the dance festival was performed to parents and family for the first time which created a perfect evening of dance. The children were bursting with excitement and pride on the evening, as were the parents and family members. As a school we were in inundated with positive feedback from parents regarding the success of the event, the impact it had on the children and when is the next festival! The dance festival has already created an incredible amount of special memories for so many children and hopefully this will continue for many years to come."

"The opportunities the festival creates for all children is truly amazing. We had so many children in our class who had never danced before or even been to a theatre, and seeing their faces as they watched the performances, and then seeing them take to the stage themselves, really highlighted just how important this festival is. What the project promotes is so special, and it was wonderful to see the children’s confidence, excitement and joy throughout the day. "

"Having a fresh pair of eyes from a respected peer to quality assure to either reassure or to suggest possible improvement opportunities is invaluable. This, coupled with the excellent CPD opportunities available make the Two Rivers offer very attractive."