Primary School Music Workshop
Last Summer, KES Music department staff and pupils worked with our Music partner, Bath Philharmonia, to co-host a three-day body percussion workshop for 80 pupils from St Martin's Garden Primary School in Bath, including pupils from the Margaret Coates Centre who have a diagnosis from the Autistic Spectrum.
Aims
The aim of the workshop was to provide a memorable specialist music experience for pupils at St Martin's Garden Primary School which was fully accessible to all its pupils, including those pupils diagnosed from the Autistic Spectrum.
The workshop was made possible through the provision of the School's own music staff and pupils, a Music Therapist and members of Bath Philharmonia's Creative Learning Team, who together, organised and ran the three-day workshop, which took place on site at KES.
The immediate beneficiaries of the workshop were the 80 pupils from the primary school, as well as the KES pupils helping to run the workshop, who experienced running a specialist community workshop. 80 pupils from the primary school attended the workshop on site, and as part of the remit of the workshop, KES also organised for a Music Therapist to visit the primary school to work with children there who were unable to travel to KES.
Background
The workshop came about through KES Music staff's connection with staff at St Martin Garden's Primary. Together staff at both schools were able to identify the opportunity to provide a fully accessible music experience, and through King Edward's partnership with Bath Philharmonia, the Creative Learning Team at the orchestra also came on board to co-host the workshop.
This is a new music partnership with St Martin's Garden Primary School and one we hope to nurture.
We have enjoyed a 10-year partnership with Bath Philharmonia, and together regularly support community initiatives, including access to free tickets to Bath Philharmonia concerts and the hosting of community workshops here at KES.
Resources
Critical to the success of the workshop was providing school facilities to host the workshop and a specialist music team to run the workshop.
The team running the workshop included KES Music staff and pupils, KES IT team to film the music workshop performance, the Bath Philharmonia's Creative Learning Team and a Music Therapist.
The workshop took place over three days and costs were covered by KES through its ongoing partnership with Bath Phil.
Impact
Staff at St Martin's Primary School confirmed that the workshop made a lasting impression on the children involved, who continued to talk about the experience after the workshop finished.
“It was such an amazing experience for the children that took part, and they still talk about it. Thanks so much for taking the time to be so inclusive and allow all our pupils to take part.” SENCO at St Martin’s Garden and Head of The Margaret Coates Centre Resource Base.
The children's experience of performing together in a choreographed body percussion piece was also accessible to their parents, as KES staff filmed the performance and recorded an audio track so a lasting momento of the workshop could be shared with families.
Pupil Involvement
A small team of Sixth Form KES pupils helped to run the workshops and received training prior to the workshop to help them with the task.
