Alison McGregor, Oldham

Pick moi Simon!

The acid tongue of Simon Cowell held no fear for the contestants in Oldham’s X Factor. They knew how good they were and that this was their first step to European wide fame and fortune!

The weeks of preparation were paying off and despite some last minute nerves the contestants gave the performance of a lifetime.

Eight classes from Oldham primary schools came together through video conferencing links to perform songs in a foreign language. Ranging from year 1 to year 6, they performed either as a whole class or in small groups. The songs ranged from traditional children’s songs to Christmas carols to Enrique Iglesias numbers.

After each performance, the contestants were subjected to comments from the judging panel, including the dreaded Simon (complete with high waisted trousers.) Luckily, Sharon, Danni and Louis were there to counter any nasty comments. We even had an appearance from Ozzie Osbourne. The judging panel were made up of pupils from Friezland primary school.

Littlemoor year 1 were eventually declared the winners for their fantastic performance in French and because they had enjoyed everyone else’s songs so much, dancing along throughout the other performances. (We don’t think they knew that we could still see them on the screen!)

Everybody enjoyed the day, and we plan to repeat it with other schools in Oldham and beyond. It was a fantastic way to get schools used to dealing with video conferencing equipment. Of course there were some technical hiccups, as for many of the schools involved it was their first experience of using video conferencing equipment, but these were soon sorted out by Sam Forster, Oldham’s primary ICT consultant.

And as for the future Euro-pop sensations, remember you saw them here first!