Having taken out a nationally recognised competition, the entire country is now aware of the students' outstanding musical talent.

Irrawang High's senior drum corps and senior dancers were over the moon when informed last week they had won first place in the Australia for Drums with Colour Guard competition.

For CAPA (creative and performing arts) head teacher and the school's musical director Adele Robinson, the recognition was well deserved and more meaningful considering the students had to perform under strict COVID-19 conditions.

"We are very excited, despite the fact that we had to miss out on the live performance aspect due to the restrictions caused by the coronavirus lockdown," Ms Robinson said.

"Winning the combined drumline and colour guard category against more than 20 schools across four states (NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland) was an outstanding effort and one which the school and Raymond Terrace community is very proud of."

Ms Robinson said that it was the first national title taken out by the school since the drum corps and dancing ensemble was introduced to Irrawang High in 2005.

"Due to COVID-19 schools this year were forced to submit their performance via video, which were then judged via live stream by judges from the United States."

Year 10 student and quad drummer Huxley Rowe described the winning feeling as "absolutely amazing".

"This was a great team effort where all the players and dancers worked extremely hard, unimaginably hard, over many months and through trying times," the 15-year-old Raymond Terrace student said.

"We put in a lot of time and effort so it was very rewarding to learn that we had won this category ... for many of us it was just fantastic to see all that hard work pay off."

The drum corps program, combined with the school dancers, has become quite a fixture at Irrawang High.

The school has performed at numerous Port Stephens festivals and events, including the Marketplace presentations, King Street Fair and Star Struck, just to name a few. They have also toured interstate and hope to be back touring in 2022 after two years of interruptions due to the pandemic.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: