Bucks Fizz Cheryl Baker hands Music award to Morpeth—her old school

Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker got a surprise when handing out this year’s ‘School Music Department of the Year’ title.

The judges handed her the envelop to read out the winner—which turned out to be her old secondary school in London’s East End where she grew up.

Cheryl went to Morpeth Secondary close to where she lived in Bethnal Green before she hit the big showbiz scene as lead singer with Bucks Fizz in the 1980s with hits like Making Your Mind Up.

The school took the top Music Department title at this year’s Education Business Awards hosted, by coincidence, by Cheryl.

The school’s Head of Music, a Mr Romhany, said: “It would appear the judges had no problem ‘Making their Minds Up’ when deciding to give us the award.”

His department has 20 specialist staff providing an extensive range of instrumental lessons including steel pans, tabla and guitar.

Morpeth recently became a London ‘music champion’ school, with its state-of-the-art classrooms, music technology suites, 13 practice spaces and a recording studio with its own control booth.

The award caps another successful academic year, when the department played host to Buddy Strong and Victor Valdez and members of R&B artist Usher’s band.

Other highlights included ‘Urban Playground’ big band performing on tour in The Hague, students featuring in the BBC’s Ten Pieces film to encourage creativity in music, a performance at the London Jazz Festival, woodwind and choir concerts with Tower Hamlets’ Music Education service and the class band’s debut at the Barbican.