Sing Up update

News from around the country

School trip singalong

Looking for a way to liven up the coach journey on your next school trip? As part of our exciting School Trip Singalong project, we’ve commissioned sets of songs to spice up your visits to seven major visitor attractions across the country. 

The four composers (Katie Chatburn, Sharon Durant, Jan Faulkner and Sue Nicholls) have created songs with strong cross-curricular links that complement and support the educational aspects of each venue.

As well as the new commissions, we’ve produced seven downloadable activity packs for your pupils. They’re a great way of keeping children engaged during a long journey, while also allowing them to explore the venues’ educational themes. Don’t worry if you’re not going on a trip though; the activities also work well when used in the classroom! 

Singing is a great way to reinforce learning from your school trips. It’s great fun too, so visit the website for links to all the songs and resources for the following attractions: 

Canterbury Cathedral

Chester Zoo

The Eden Project, Cornwall

Jorvik Viking Centre, York

The National Maritime Museum, London

The Roman Baths, Bath

Stonehenge, Wiltshire

If you’re not planning a trip to one of these venues, don’t fret! We’ve also created a general singalong pack for you, so have a look online.

Vocal force news

VF Cornwall

A Cornish haka has been created and is going down a storm with staff and pupils! As well as developing some Cornish language repertoire, this project is working to bring together Cornish Male Voice Choirs with Cornish folk musicians and teachers. The Perraners Male Voice Choir have enjoyed working with Years 1 & 2 at St Agnes Primary School.

VF Brighton

This project has just completed a short series of training sessions devised specifically for playworkers in Brighton and Hove. Practitioners Al Start and Jo White led the sessions, which were part of a wider project working with professionals in health settings.

VF Oxfordshire

This new project will be working closely with all the Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools in Oxfordshire. The overall aim is to achieve a deep and lasting impact on the singing leadership skills, confidence and repertoire for 50 adults working within these schools. The planning has included working with staff to identify their specific training needs and putting

together a programme of relevant training opportunities hosted across the SEN settings. Sing Up is working in partnership with Oxford Folk Festival to manage this project, in consultation with the Area Leader from Oxfordshire Music Service.

Don't forget!

Get involved with Tune In - The Year of Music. Find out more at www.dcsf.gov.uk/tunein

On the terraces

Football grounds are usually reserved for chants and cheers. However, Brookmead School, Ivinghoe, were recently part of something more angelic at Milton Keynes Dons stadium: a primary school singing showcase!

The school was among nine others showcasing their talent as part of the Moving On Up project. A great day was had by all – and not one rendition of ‘here we go!’ was included!

Sing For Your Supper – Oxfordshire

The Oxfordshire Area Leader invited teachers from across the region to a singing supper. Around 60 teachers sang and enjoyed supper with other teachers who were keen to explore singing in the classroom. The teachers shared ideas and tips making it a hugely successful training and networking event. Email the Oxfordshire Area Leader at oxfordshire@singup.org.

A new partnership

Sing Up has launched a partnership with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) to develop its work with Looked After Children. This comes out of last year’s successful Sing Up Beyond the Mainstream projects, one of which, GMMAZ, is featured in this issue.

NCB’s mission is to advance the wellbeing of all children and young people and we are working with its experts to see how singing can contribute to this. As well as projects combining the expertise of Music Organisations and Children’s Services, we will be developing training and resources and providing information to those interested in the work.

Beyond the mainstream film screening - North East.

Sing Up facilitators Shelly Ambury and Shelly Coyne hosted a successful Beyond the Mainstream event at The Sage Gateshead.

The day featured a performance from the Hill Top choir, a session in signed songs by practitioner Cliff Lea and a screening of our film, available on our YouTube channel. The Area Leaders also began an audit to see what the training needs are for Beyond the Mainstream settings across the North East. It was a wonderful evening, enthusing everyone about the fantastic work happening.