School choir's TV show hopes are high

The 20 choir members of St Mary's Catholic Primary School are taking part in the popular search for singers for a BBC prime time show.

They were rated at 187 out of 692 entries on Monday in the Any Dream Will Do competition to accompany the Saturday evening talent show Joseph on BBC1.

The contest has been closed to new entries because of the overwhelming surge for places.

But the children from St Mary's were firmly in the hunt for one of the sought-after top 20 spots when voting was re-opened on Tuesday after a break caused by the need to moderate all the schools who managed to take part. Votes are made through the www. josephchoirsearch.co.uk website. This contains a 60 second excerpt of the choir singing a medley of Joseph songs.

Rehearsals by the choir of songs from the famous show have taken place around an Ofsted inspection and the need for the children to sit standard assessment tests.

Being one of the leading 20 schools earns those choirs the chance to be assessed by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. He will choose the winner to appear on the final show of Joseph on June 2 and in a West End production.

Sue Hartley, the school's music co-ordinator, said: "Every vote counts for us. The children are very excited, especially about entering the competition and seeing themselves on the internet. It was a real thrill to them and they want to see if they can go all the way."

One aspect of the St Mary's entry which makes it stand out from the 691 others is the use of sign language to enable everyone to understand the songs.

"Five of the children are signing the songs," said Mrs Hartley. "It makes our music accessible to everyone and we do signing at school for our singing."

The members of the Joseph choir were chosen from the 35-40 strong usual school choir. This regularly entertains elderly residents around the town.

It has also appeared with the Arun Choral Society in Arundel Cathedral and has a TV appearance to its credit '“ singing carols on the Des and Mel Show at Christmas 2003.

Mrs Hartley added: "We all love music at the school. It is at the heart of our work."

Choirs from Aldingbourne Primary School and South Bersted Primary School are also competing to sing on Joseph, as well as Chichester schools Oakwood Primary School, Central Junior School, Emsworth Primary School and Westbourne House.

To vote for your favourite, click here