The English Touring Opera perform Laika the Spacedog in National Space Week

The English Touring Opera is nationally renowned for their entertaining and informative performances. We were delighted to welcome them to Sheffield Girls’ during National Space Week to deliver their opera ‘Laika the Spacedog’, introducing our Year 4, 5, and 6 girls in our Junior School to the 1960s space race through song. Following on from last year’s highly successful Astronaut Day and marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, this was a very timely and exciting event.

The multi-award-winning show, which incorporates many areas of the curriculum, including science, history, literacy and music, told the story of the first animal to go into orbit and featured scenes at the Kremlin, with the Russian President and the countdown to the rocket launch. The students really enjoyed the fully interactive show which included dance, filmed animation, and puppetry as well as having the opportunity to sing along to songs in the production.

The show went down wonderfully with both pupils and staff as Trinity, a Year 4 pupil said it was ‘Absolutely awesome!’ and Mrs Rodgers, Assistant Head (Co-Curricular) said, ‘The opera really stood out to me for its uniqueness. It was highly engaging for the girls but also extremely educational and very entertaining. I certainly learnt a lot about space that I did not know!’

A huge thank you to the English Touring Opera for visiting us and injecting a spot of culture into our afternoon.