Pupils at a Wimborne school used their latest sell-out production to give a supercalifragilistic send-off to their headteacher.
St Michael’s Middle School performed Mary Poppins at The Layard Theatre at Canford School earlier this month.
The musical was six months in the making, with every aspect including staging and lighting managed by pupils and many showing off their acting skills for the first time.
As a special surprise to their departing headteacher, Ron Jenkinson, the pupils
also changed many of the words to the
iconic song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, to incorporate a fond farewell.
New words included: “Mr Jenkinson you have been absolutely splendid. We wish your time here never ended.”
Ron has been a headteacher for 23 years, the last nine of which have been at St Michael’s.
He leaves at the end of this term and plans to take a sabbatical and travel.
He said: “Like all our other productions which have gone before it, Mary Poppins was a fantastic show and we are all so proud of everyone involved.
“When the pupils started to sing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and I realised the words were about me I was shocked. But also deeply touched.
“The whole audience responded and clapped. It was very special.”
Ron continued: “At St Michael’s we teach pupils our ABC: Aspiration, Belief and Creativity.
“Over the course of rehearsals and three amazing performances our pupils have excelled in all three qualities.”
Music teacher Ed Johnston agreed: “It has been a pleasure to discover new talent and watch all of our performers grow in confidence and ability. We hope our next production may be one we write ourselves.
“A great deal of hard work has gone into every aspect of the show and we were all thrilled with the finished result, which also provided a very fitting goodbye to our popular headteacher.”