Posted:
As the summer term and the academic year draws to a close, we want to thank everyone who has taken part in one of our schools or early years music projects this year.
Our musicians have worked in 17 schools across the UK, as well as early years settings in London, Kirklees and Newcastle. Our first schools network session, for schools that are currently participating in or have previously had a one-year staff development project, took place in the summer term and we are grateful to all the attendees who made it a success. We also released our new interactive music video celebrating the power of music, featuring pupils and staff for the first time, which you can see here.
Thank you for all your project feedback, including this from Kingsland School in Wakefield, which helps us shape our future work:
“The children responded really well to the sessions and it was lovely to see how engaged they were throughout. They clearly enjoyed taking part in the session each week. The musicians created a positive atmosphere that encouraged participation from all children including a child who spends a lot of time sleeping in his tent. Although he was in his tent, the musicians crouched near him to play the instruments so that he could listen”.
“I found the sessions incredibly valuable from a teaching perspective. It helped me realise just how motivated many of the children in my class are by musical instruments and I think it will be great to incorporate more instruments into a wider range of activities moving forward. I am also looking forward to implementing some of the ideas and approaches I learned into my own music sessions”.
Thank you also to all the funders who made this work possible – without you, we wouldn’t be able to offer these tailored music sessions which create so many opportunities for connection for children and young people.
Pupils, teachers, teaching assistants, portage staff, parents, carers and Jessie’s Fund musicians you have all been a joy to work with and we look forward to seeing some of you again in the autumn term!
