BRIDPORT pupils have proved they've got talent thanks to a new programme launched two years ago.

The Sir John Colfox Academy held its annual TAAG - Talented, Able and Ambitious Group - evening for Year 7 students.

The idea is to provide diverse activities to challenge able pupils and give them more opportunities.

This year the focus has been on photography, drama, art, English, PE and music.

The students in each group summarised what they had done throughout the year, before showcasing their work.

May Smith started the evening off talking about her TAAG photography and the opportunities it had opened up for her.

She said she was now inspired to pursue photography in some form in the future. She thanked 6th former Honor Slade for teaching them about shutter speeds and lighting and Faye Neal for giving up her time to teach them about street photography and the best way to capture moving objects.

The members of the music group performed a range of songs, the first was written by and performed by Ele Cox, Ryan Williams, Ellen Pearce, Carla Wood, Molly Overall and Makeda Downs.

The song was inspired by a day they spent with education consultant David Powell discussing democracy and they called it 'Silenced'. The audience enjoyed it so much they were asked to perform it twice.

Makeda Downs then performed the classic 'Stand by me' and proved why she made it through to the Dorset has talent final earlier this year. The orchestra, consisting of Level 7 violinists Georgia Staal and Eva Everley and cellist Walter Everley finished the night off with three songs, 'Pie Jesu', 'The Flower duet' and 'The Elephant'.

Daisy Parsons introduced the drama group and said being part of this group had improved her confidence and communication skills. The audience, made up of family members, teachers and governors, were then treated to a performance of Macbeth with a modern twist.

Elleanor Wellman and Chloe Robinson, members of Year 8 Art TAAG introduced the projects they had been involved in this year which included a day at the arts centre working with Mr Powell and artist Ricky Romain. Year 7 members Carla Wood, Mya Williams and Ryan Williams then showed their work and invited the audience to view the gallery of work on display.

Euan Pollock and Maddy Herbert summarised the achievements of Year 7 PE students and their own individual successes. The boys Year 7 football team reached the area final and were crowned area and county cross country champions whilst the girls were crowned area cross country champions.

Individually Euan was selected to represent the County Cross Country Team and has just signed a two year contract with Bournemouth. Maddy was the area league cross country champion and was also selected to represent the County Cross Country Team.

The English group was introduced by Lucia Price and she talked about how the group had been inspired to write their own poetry after a visit to Portland and the sculpture created by Antony Gormley. Each member of TAAG English read out the poems they had written.