Signing off from the Phoenix
- The CLV Phoenix
- Jun 13
- 3 min read
By Fallon McGahon
I joined the Phoenix in Y7. During COVID, it was all online and I didn’t really know what it was and I usually missed most of the google meets. Then in Y8, my best friend at the time was in the Phoenix and I tagged along to a meeting and realised that was the club I joined in Y7. I continued throughout the years and I’ve written at least 2 articles a year for the past 3 years and it brought me so much joy to research the current situation of the world. It brought me so much joy to connect with other people who also enjoy writing articles about anything and everything.
During these years, I’ve made friends at the Phoenix. These people are usually younger than me in school years but it’s fine. A friend is a friend no matter the age difference. The Phoenix was once the centre of my social life but it was shared with other kids who enjoyed articles and writing them. I had other friends but they found the Phoenix boring so it was just me who went. I remembered the times, every Wednesday Week 2 for the first 3 years then when I was in Y10, it switched to Week 2 Fridays. I’ve never missed a meeting unless it was an inexcusable event that I needed to be at (which was only once).
Over time, I was in many clubs at this school. Many of them made it into articles. Most commonly, the annual school show, which gets an article with actor interviews and sometimes reviews comments from staff and parents who saw it and posted it on the website. I also joined the JLV Singing Group in Y8, before choir was started then I was one of Mrs Glanville's OG CLV Choir members (along with most other people who did Create Will Rock You as their option that year). I was in the JLV Art Club for the last few weeks of Y7, I made a peg doll (Hetty Feather) and many worry stones out of clay. I’ve done 4 school shows and multiple choir performances throughout my time in the CLV as well as 3 GCSE Music performances for coursework. In Y9 and Y10, I was invited to take part in helping develop a new musical as part of the November Club company (musical written by Katie Doherty). My voice also featured in some spoken dialogue at the end of the musical as it started as a 20 minute sung through musical that is due to develop and become a full length musical soon. At the end of Y9, Miss Jackson ran a dance club and we performed a piece at the end of the year as well.
Throughout my time at CLV, I have always been a huge fan of drama, singing and theatre in general. I’ve been in every school show that I was allowed to be in, I take part in all performance opportunities and love being on the stage. This has led me to decide to leave the CLV after GCSEs and start Newcastle College for a BTEC Level 3 in Musical Theatre. After this I hope to move onto the Level 4 BTEC at the College University Centre (NCUC) or audition for a drama school in London. I also hope to move to London one day and potentially be an actor on the west end. If I can’t get into drama school, I would stay at Newcastle College and progress through the different BTEC levels up to Level 7 (Masters Degree equivalent) and one day study a Level 8 (Doctorate Degree equivalent) elsewhere as Newcastle doesn't offer it. If I make it as a successful actor, Mrs Dyer, Miss Butler and Miss Jackson are the reasons I made it that far. They were why I loved drama and theatre more after becoming a drama student.
The CLV will always be the place I learned my values and became passionate about theatre. I will never forget the people I’ve met along the way and I would give anything to go back to 2020 and do high school all over again. I am not staying on at the sixth form here which is disappointing to some teachers and students but I will remember everyone at that school. I will always remember the teachers who believed in me and pushed me to be the best version of myself (academically, theatrically and in my personal life). Because I’m not staying on, that makes this my last article, ever.
This is Fallon,
Signing Off
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