Well, the Open Evenings were fantastic. Thanks so much to everyone for the help, time and support. The musicians performed so well, and music could be heard all around the school. We have received so much positive feedback.
A couple of weeks ago, Elaine held the first of our evening recitals. The rehearsal room was packed, and it was an amazing evening. Many parents have emailed in to say how good it was. Congratulations, Elaine!
Exam entries for Trinity and Rock School are being processed this week. They should have been put online using the page link above. Please complete by Tuesday if not already done.
I have just updated the school staff calendar above with details of school dates, disruption, trips and so on.
Year 10 and 11. Thank you to everyone who has been able to accomodate musicians out of lesson times. It has been hard I know. There are still many students who have their lessons during lesson times, and this is unavoidable. However, please take note of their timetable and situation. In this situation, you will have to be flexible if a controlled assessment or a test comes up. This is an ongoing work in progress, as we see how it works out. Congratulations should go to Keeling who is the first to have parental request that their son in Year 11 does miss lessons, so they can eat at break! I can't win......
Alison has recently been asked to contribute to a national article about how music has had an impact on our school. Three schools were chosen through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (Musical Futures). I ask you to have a read, as it sums up music in our school.
Mark
"Simon Balle School in Hertford is a comprehensive
with specialist status in Humanities. Headteacher Alison Saunders sees music as
playing a pivotal role in personalised learning and student leadership. She
says: “I think you can see that music is important if you begin to understand
how important it is to young people. If we are looking at the whole student, at
equipping them for the challenges in our world, then we need to be prioritising
the skills that we can see developing when children become involved in music.”
Alison has been head for 14 years, and has seen a
gradual but significant shift in music’s role: “When I came here, music was
exclusive rather than inclusive. Since we appointed our Director of Music ten
years ago, things have changed. He had new ideas and vision, he’s a facilitator
and an ideas man and he’s a real leader.”
The school became one of the pilots for Musical Futures, a Paul Hamlyn
Foundation-funded initiative that supports innovative, student-led music
teaching and learning in schools (see their NUMU website page for examples of
work). The role of the students and music department staff in advocating what
was happening in these lessons has been critical. They asked senior teachers to
visit music lessons to see what was happening; the students told their friends
and teachers about the different style of learning and the impact it was having
on them and this helped to gain support for further investment in music.
A
space for the community
Fundraising for and developing an existing building
into a state of the art music department was
then the catalyst for the further expansion and development of music within and
outside the school. The department is
now the base for Hertfordshire Music Service’s Saturday morning ‘Hertford and
Ware Music Centre’, hosts music and musical theatre exams, and has regular
visits from local primary schools, as well as delivering workshops in the
schools.
“What happens in our music centre affects every aspect
of our work,” says Alison. “Music drives forward innovation, motivates students,
models good practice and is developing our community partnerships. It’s become
the life blood of our school.”
“Music is very much one of the recruiting draws to the
school,” says Alison. Students perform regularly in the local community and the
department often works with other subject areas.
One third of students now take instrumental/vocal
lessons (higher than the national average of xx%), and there is a wealth of out-of-school music
activities from string quartets to rock and jazz groups to a community choir.
Music has been important in engaging vulnerable
students too, particularly through the informal mentoring relationships that
staff have with students: “It helps us to provide personalised learning as well
as mentors who believe in them, and I’m convinced it’s one of the reasons our
attendance is so high. We’ve had students who were disadvantaged and had poor
behaviour in class, but through music they’ve grown up, gained a sense of
purpose and identity. Music has been the thing that’s given them a passion, a
sense of direction and a sense of community and family in their schooling.
Through the music staff, we’ve been able to encourage them in their other
subjects as well. Some have gone on to university as a result. I’ve seen how
music has transformed children’s lives.”
Developing
the whole child, engaging the vulnerable
Alison sees broadening music opportunities as being
critical in developing the whole child: “We’ve been looking at what we want our
students to have achieved when they leave us. We want them to have the highest
possible academic achievements but we also want students who are prepared for life.
It’s those personal skills and that personal development that happens in school
that is going to prepare young people to be leaders for the future in a rapidly
changing, and uncertain world. Music gives them that.”
This is as important within the classroom, as
outside it: “There’s a danger that people focus on the extra-curricular
activities, but the everyday experience in the classroom is so important. We
believe there needs to be a link between what pupils are doing in instrumental
lessons and groups, as well as within classroom music lessons..”
“In schools that just see themselves as exam
factories, music becomes elitist,” she continues. “But if you’re looking at the
development of whole children, resilient, independent learners who have a sense
of accountability and responsibility, then music plays a more far-reaching
role.”"
