Portsmouth schools rise to Rock Challenge

The competition, which originated in Australia, first came to the UK in 1996.

The 2017 competition opened on Monday night and runs all week until Saturday.

Schools from across Hampshire will be gathering all week for the competition – but the opening day saw some of Portsmouth’s students come up against stiff competition from schools in the Isle of Wight, east Hampshire and Southampton.

The schools that represented the Portsmouth region in day one of the challenge were Trafalgar School, Warblington School and South Downs College.

South Downs College (pictures 1-5) created a dance piece called Niemandsland – which tells the story of the Berlin Wall. It divided families, and loved ones died trying to cross the wall.

The performance is based on a true story of a mother and son who lost each other for 28 years until the wall came down in 1989.

Trafalgar School (pictures 6-12) performed a piece titled Outside, which was described as exploring how the magic of an individual can make a difference to the lives of others; how not being restricted by the expectations of society enables people to write their own history.

Warblington School’s perfomance, Harry Heals The Hive looks at what would happen if bees vanished off the face of the earth (pictures 13-17).

n Here and on page 32 is a selection of pictures which capture the first day’s performances.