The children, aged between seven and nine, had been getting lessons all week and their practice paid off in front of an audience of proud parents.

Dario G's 'Carneval de Paris' started the show and pupils then reeled off a host of well known tunes including Girls Aloud's 'The Show'.

Staff then had a go with their version of Stevie Wonder's 'Isn't She Lovely' which, good as it was, the children still found highly amusing.
A group of parents, Mal and the Coconuts, then demonstrated that their after school classes during the week had not been wasted with a fun performance.

Head teacher Dawn Groves said: "It was a really fantastic week for the children and adults who took part. Wendy Brown from The Sage Gateshead, who also visited us last year, is a world class pannist.

"The children worked really hard and were a real credit to us," she added.

Steel pans are tuned percussion instruments from Trinidad and Tobago and are usually played and taught as part of an ensemble.

Tuition was provided by CoMusica, the north east's Youth Music Action Zone, managed and delivered by The Sage Gateshead.

CoMusica provide music-making activities to young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to access them.

The event was funded by General Mills Berwick and Aileen Reilly, the firm's community relations and charities co-ordinator, visited several times over the week to see how the children were progressing.

She was so impressed by their efforts that each child was rewarded with a backpack at the end of Friday's performance.