PERFORMING on the stage is daunting for most but students at St Anthony’s School at Kingscliff have perfected the art, walking away with a swag of awards from the recent Murwillumbah Festival of Performing Arts.

The school, which entered every class in the eisteddfod’s verse speaking contest, finished with three first places, one second placement and three highly commended awards.

School principal Lynne Pull praised the good work of the teachers and students.

“This is a huge achievement,” Mrs Pull said.

“The children get that good feeling of having done something well - a real achievement. It is made possible through the dedication of class teachers - it’s not easy getting a group of 50 to 60 children to be totally focussed and remain in unison, an amazing effort.”

Mrs Pull said the adjudicator repeatedly commented on the crisp unison of voices and the discipline of the groups’ focus on their teachers.

St Anthony’s was also awarded several medals for its three choirs, two vocal groups, recorder group and bell-ringers who also entered the festival.

Established in 1923, the festival is one of the biggest eisteddfod’s around, covering music, dance and speech and drama over for four weeks every year, with entrants from across the Tweed and beyond.