It is with great excitement that we are offering an internal Eisteddfod at BIS this year.

Eisteddfod literally means a sitting (eistedd = to sit), a reference to the hand-carved chair traditionally awarded to the best poet in the ceremony during the first Eisteddfod in 1176 in Wales.

An Eisteddfod offers a chance to build confidence and skills through performing to an audience, and provides helpful notes from expert adjudicators from outside our school. Whether you can sing, dance, act, recite or play an instrument, it’s a unique opportunity to meet others in the same field and compare performances.

Performing in an eisteddfod gives participants:

• A goal to work towards.
• Greater focus to their practice.
• Expert feedback from external experts – the comments being more useful than the marks.
• Performance experience – because of COVID, the opportunity to perform to an audience has been restricted. An internal Eisteddfod offers a chance to play to a group of people, while maintaining correct procedures.
• A chance to build confidence and skills.
• An opportunity to see and share with others taking part.

The “rating” of the candidate is then expressed in different “levels” of awards (diploma, gold, silver, bronze, etc.), which indicates the candidate’s progress in terms of his own knowledge, skills and understanding relevant to the particular genre.

We would like to encourage our students to take advantage of this great opportunity.