Manchester Sings 2021
Withington Girls' School worked with seven Maintained Partner Primary Schools on a large-scale musical event held at Manchester Cathedral in November 2021. All schools involved recognise the importance of community and share the same vision and ethos of helping those less fortunate than themselves. The event saw over 250 children joining together to celebrate the positivity of Community through song and poetry.
This Partnership is not a temporary venture as the first Manchester Sings was held in 2019. The Partnership also included work with two of our long-term Partner organisations, The Booth Centre a charity for homeless people in Manchester and Wood Street Mission children's charity, to fundraise for their projects.
Aims
1. To increase engagement and musical appreciation in all pupils.
2. To increase awareness of our shared community and how communities supported each other during the Pandemic.
3. To increase self-esteem and wellbeing through involvement in a wider community event.
4. To strengthen relationships between Withington Girls' School and our Maintained Partner Primary schools and other organisations.
Background
The Head of Music at Withington Girls' School identified the opportunity early in 2019 and the school began to contact local schools to see whether they would like to be involved in the project.
Manchester Sings was postponed last year due to the pandemic. Withington Girls’ School Director of Music and Manchester Sings organiser, Mrs Gilly Sargent, said: “It’s delightful to share the enjoyment of live music once again. We all recognise that children have been affected by the pandemic in so many ways and Manchester Sings is a welcome opportunity for celebration and joy.”
Six of the seven primary schools who participated in the inaugural event in 2019 and were eager to take part again, plus a new Partner Primary School. "There’s a growing level of interest from schools across the region to participate due to the undoubted positive impact of the project. The participating children benefit so much from this experience. Not only do they learn about music and develop new skills, but they also grow in confidence and self-belief, which will aid them far beyond Manchester Sings,” said Mrs Sargent.
Resources
Resources included specialist music teacher time to conduct singing classes in Maintained Primary Partner schools. These sessions took place from September - November 2021.
The venue, transport for pupils and parents from Partner Schools, printing of programmes and t-shirts were funded through Beaverbrooks Jewellers, charitable giving and Withington Girls' School.
Impact
Impact evaluation is carried out after each event. The 2019 Impact Evaluation report can be read about elsewhere on Schools Together.
Anticipated outcomes are as follows:
1. Greater awareness of social issues for all pupils.
2. Increased enjoyment for singing (especially for boys).
3. Improved social cohesion.
4. Strengthening of existing partnerships and fostering of new partnerships.
5. Increased confidence of Maintained Partner Primary Schools to deliver music sessions.
6. Awareness of historic buildings and their role in Greater Manchester.
7. Harder to reach pupils were able to participate in a venue and at an event that they would not normally be able to access.
8. To assist with the Covid Recovery curriculum.
After Christmas, interviews will be conducted in all our Partner Schools and will form part of our Impact Evaluation for Manchester Sings 2021.
Immediate feedback from pupils was:
"the best moment of my life, so far!" - a pupil from Whitefield Community School.
“My favourite part of the concert was how all of the harmonies came together and made beautiful music. It was really interesting to sing in front of loads of people because I had only sung with my friends in assemblies. I will always remember my parents’ faces when they saw me and all my class singing. It was the bravest thing I’ve ever done, and I loved it!” - a pupil from New Islington Primary School.
Pupil Involvement
252 pupils in total aged 8-18, a mixture of girls and boys.
222 pupils from our Maintained Partner Primary Schools.
Frequency
This is the second Manchester Sings. The event was cancelled last year due to the Pandemic. We are hoping this will be a yearly event and plan to invite the same Partner Primary Schools to be involved in a similar event in the Summer Term.
