By Kirsty Topping
The staff line up to sing Don’t Stop Believin’
SCOTS teachers have created an internet sensation with their classroom tribute to hit US TV show Glee.
Staff at Forfar Academy throw away their marker pens and jotters to sing and dance to Don’t Stop Believing by Journey.
Even the headteacher of the Angus school makes an appearance, screaming at his staff to stop the noise before leaping into the air and clicking his heels.
The YouTube video went online this week and scored 8,000 hits in just two days.
The video begins by showing corridors full of children at the end of the school day. Bored teachers sit at their desks contemplating marking and other tedious chores.
But as the intro to the 1981 hit starts, they leave their desks one by one.
Two teachers then mime the famous opening lines as another member of staff plays guitar.
Teachers begin the routine looking bored
The line
“A singer in a smoky room’ is sung by a teacher surrounded by a fog of fake smoke, while another reclines across tables.
Other teachers take it in turns to sing lines, accompanied by cheesy dance moves.
Bizarrely, one teacher performs behind a row of stuffed penguins.
The performance comes to an abrupt end when headteacher Melvyn Lynch bursts in and yells:
“What’s going on?.”
As the crowd of teachers dissipates, he gives a cheeky smile before performing an athletic leap and clicking his heels.
Drama teachers Paul Harrison and Pauline Gibb dreamed up the video to publicise their new Glee Club.
Paul said: “Normally you would put up a poster or something to try to get pupils interested.
Headmaster Melvyn Lynch shows his displeasure at the commotion
“We just thought we would try and do something a little bit different and came up with the idea of getting other teachers involved in doing a parody of the song.”
The teachers took advantage of the school’s study leave period to film the video, which they only revealed to the pupils last week.
“It was a nightmare trying to keep it quiet,” continued Paul. “We really thought the surprise element was something that we wanted to keep intact so that we didn’t lose the impact, and it got pretty difficult towards the end.
“The pupils were totally surprised, but it was an amazing reaction and it has been well worth the effort because of the buzz it has created around the school.
“Hopefully it’ll help get pupils interested in the Glee Club – and we’re trying to get new technologies into our teaching – so maybe we’ll be doing more videos like this.”
But he can’t resist clicking his heels.
Paul added: “We wanted to get staff from all departments and from all levels to take part, and Mr Lynch was a great support for this.
“His piece took us about five minutes to do and, for me, it completely steals the show.”
The video has attracted hundreds of online comments. One user said:
“Wow, just wow! Makes me feel so proud to be a pupil at Forfar Academy! It’s only our teachers that could think something as good as this! Love it. “
Not all pupils have been impressed by the video. One commented on the video saying:
“Glee… seriously? From now on I’m denying I went to this school… “
The YouTube hit follows a video from Bell Baxter High School, Fife, where teachers danced to YMCA in the school’s canteen.
The video has received more than 362,000 views and been show across the world.
