Teacher and coordinator Margi Hayes is ecstatic with the school choir. “Getting in the third year, it’s a hat-trick, it’s pretty special,” Mrs Hayes said.

Thirteen CPS students auditioned in March and waited until the end of May for the results. Success means picking the right song for the audition, said Mrs Hayes: “They are very particular,” she said of the judges.

This year, the students auditioned with Second Star to the Right from Peter Pan.

“There’s a diverse group of kids: we have one set of siblings, and three kids who did it last year,” Mrs Hayes said.

It is also the third year running that a member of the Osborne family will attend Schools Spectacular.

Staged at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney’s Olympic Park on Friday and Saturday, November 23 and 24, the students will perform twice a day, a matinee and an evening show. They are part of the 2700-strong choir and will be “running purely on adrenaline,” said Mrs Hayes.

They will join more than 5000 others, including 40 featured performers, a 100-piece symphony orchestra, stage band, 2700-voice choir, 2300 dancers, the D’Arts Ensemble disability program, the Aboriginal Dance Company, puppets and an indispensable behind-the-scenes team.

Schools Spectacular creative director Sonja Sjolander has no doubt the Southern Inlands’ contribution will help the event live up to its theme: The Greatest. “You cannot help but be inspired by these incredible young artists,” Ms Sjolander said.

The performance includes songs Zadok the Priest by The Handles, Keith Urban’s The Fighter, and the kids “just go off” for the finale, Sheppard’s Coming Home, said Mrs Hayes.

See it on Channel 7 on December 8 at 7pm.