People and Personalities

Thriller World Record attempt

Subject to final verification, pupils at Putteridge High have broken the record for most people dressed as zombies dancing to Michael Jackson's “Thriller”.

At 2.30pm on Thursday 23rd October, just under 1000 youngsters packed into the school Sports Hall donning crazy hair, ripped clothes and fake blood.

The attempt was opened by a young man playing Michael Jackson, and with a dance troupe leading the way at the front, the rest of the school joined in behind.

The school decided to go for the record in order to launch their SEAL initiative to promote community across the school. Assistant Head Teacher Bridget Vickers explained more:

Thriller World Record attempt

“SEAL stands for Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning, it’s one of the new government initiatives introduced into schools to get kids happy about learning” she said.

“We wanted to launch our initiative and we wanted something exciting to do it. So we thought, why not do a whole school event to bring us all together?

"We really wanted the kids to get something different out of the day that they wouldn’t get in school, working together, across ages and with adults."

And why did they choose this iconic 80s track?

“We sort of brainstormed” said Bridget, “because we needed something really catchy to get the kids going and get them working together. We thought this would do it because they have to spend the whole day working up to being a zombie, getting in the mood!”

The numbers now have to be verified before an official record is declared, but Bridget is confident that they now have the record.

"I’m really, really proud" she said.

Thriller World Record attempt

"I knew they could do it, I’d seen them in practice but it was just amazing all together in costume."

She also revealed what would happen next.

"We spent a lot of time thinking about how to do this because it’s quite complicated" she said, "but we have been in touch with the Guinness Book of Records and we’ve followed their procedures.

"We’ve kept a record of all the students who have done it and everybody in the hall has been registered. We’ve also had to get parental permission.

"Now we just have to get it notarised and submit it to the Guinness Book of Records - so I think we might break it!"