Grantham school dances through the decades ahead of Jubilee celebrations

Primary school pupils have been jiving and twisting their way back through the decades in celebration of the upcoming Jubilee.

A Nottingham dance company named Dance Days led the classes with children at St Anne's Primary School in Grantham. Each class danced a certain style to the corresponding decade they were learning about.

Victoria Devonald, Year 2 class teacher and organiser behind the celebrations, said: "They really enjoyed it, and there was a real buzz from the experience.

"They were all talking about it this morning and said they went home to their parents and said they did dancing from the olden days."

The decades the children learnt routines to ranged from the 1950s right up to the 2010s. The Year 6 class learnt the twist as they flashed back to the 1950s whereas Year 5 performed the twist across the 1960s.

Then Year 4 performed Saturday Night Fever, as they strutted their way into the era of disco in the 1970s.

Year 3 performed Thriller from the 1980s and Year 2 learned line dancing as they performed to Cotton Eye Joe.

Then Year 1 danced to S Club 7 for the 90s and finally the reception class danced to Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling, which was the soundtrack to the 2016 Disney cartoon Trolls.

Alongside learning the dances, the children are also studying about important events concerning the Queen from each decade.

Jonathan Austin, headteacher of St Anne's, added: "We had such a good day! We were jiving and doing the twist. It was great as it was from the 1950's right up to the teens."

The school is also doing other events so the children are able to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee before the half-term.

These include a celebration assembly held yesterday morning (Thursday) and a picnic. Pupils were also dressed in white, red and blue and the winners of the school's portrait competition were announced, where the children had to produce their best artwork of the Queen.