South Downs College qualifies for southern final

The Rock Challenge is an annual event where schools produce their own eight-minute performance, doing everything from choreography, sound, and costume to visuals.

The event, held at Ports-mouth Guildhall on Wednesday, was won by South Downs College’s Academy of Movement and Performance with their proficient and polished performance Hatred Fights, Love United: An Irish Conflict.

Their performance has qualified them for the Southern Open Final, which will be held at Portsmouth Guildhall in June.

In second place were Robert May’s School, who performed a piece focused on society’s unattainable expectations.

Portsmouth’s Mary Rose School finished third for their highly entertaining piece which catapulted the audience back in time as they went in search of grandma’s watch, and which featured a revolving time machine.

The other schools also voted Mary Rose as their favourite performance of the evening.

The deputy mayor of Gosport, Councillor Lynn Hook, said: ‘The actual talent we saw was fantastic, the costumes as well as the 
hard work that all the young people put in – an absolutely wonderful event.’

The event was supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers Criminal Records Office, Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team and Hampshire Healthy Schools.