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Winter Lights

Winter Lights Festival at MGC

This annual Winter Lights Festival is an occasion for us to come together as a community and celebrate the creativity of our young people and showcase our creative curriculum and our partnership work.

As part of the preparations and learning, we have a whole term exploring that years' theme, culminating in a lantern parade onto the playground full of lights, sculptures, musical performances and food. The whole evening is a multi-sensory experience .

We celebrate the festive season by bringing a bit of light and wonder into the dark nights.

Each year is a different theme, explored throughout the Autumn term during the creative arts and humanities lessons. We create a Winter Lights passport consisting of cross-curricular activities for the WHOLE college aligned to that year’s theme. There are prizes for all who take part and a class award for the most enthusiastic participation. Every student has the opportunity to make a lantern and to join the lantern parade with their friends and families on a set evening after-school towards the end of December. Every student can take their lantern home at the end of the night.

 

 “My daughter kept saying her heart was overwhelmed!”
Parent participant, Winter Lights 2019

We always work with Same Sky, an arts and community organisation. An artist comes into College to work with us on a big willow sculpture or our lanterns. Same Sky inspired us from the beginning with their lantern parade festival that has been happening on the Winter solstice in Brighton for over twenty years. Our festival has been running since 2015, with filmed versions during the pandemic. These can be seen on our YouTube Channel, Manor Green TV.

 

Our event is a joyful, celebratory cultural event in the life of our students, promoting a creative community working together. Everyone is invited. Come and experience it for yourself, check our News page or Instagram for the next Winter Lights date.