A School of Singers

A School of Singers

Helen Rigby, Primary Music Practitioner at Bishop Bridgeman C.E. Primary School, tells us about her school's singing journey.

In my life, singing has given me the greatest sense of enjoyment, satisfaction and achievement. My passion and enthusiasm for singing has, after much hard work, successfully engaged the children's interest and made significant improvements in the quality of singing at Bishop Bridgeman C.E. Primary School.

When I first took on the role of music teacher at the school, five years ago, the children were mis-pitching while singing and lacked enthusiasm for singing and for music in general. My role was to change this; to raise the status of singing and music at the school, not only with the children but also among my colleagues. By doing this, singing and music would both be able to take their rightful places in the curriculum and could be used as a valuable tool for learning.

SINGING SCHEDULE

One of the actions I took was to increase the opportunities children and colleagues had to sing. We built singing into the weekly timetable with daily singing in assembly, where the whole school sings together, whole school hymn practices and weekly 'Big Sings' where the children are given the opportunity to learn secular songs from a range of cultures and styles. These 'Big Sings' were split into KS1 and KS2, so that the songs delivered were age and ability appropriate.

We also involved ourselves in a range of national singing events including Youth Music's Song for Peace initiative on World Peace Day when we sang No Wars Will Stop Us Singing Comic Relief when we sang Make Someone Happy and the World Record attempt for the largest simultaneous sing with Lean On Me.

An extra-curricular school choir was already in place, which allowed children to take singing a step further. The choir is provided with a large number of opportunities for performances during the year - for example, Christmas carol singing in the local community, and church services for Mothering Sunday, Harvest Festival, Easter and Christmas. The highlight of the choir's year is Bolton Music Association's Annual Music Festival where they sing with hundreds of other Bolton school children, thus broadening their musical scope.

CELEBRATION ASSEMBLIES

Since I've arrived, more emphasis has been placed on musical productions throughout the year, with an annual nativity show, celebration assemblies and an end of year production.

Bishop Bridgeman School is also involved with the University of the First Age, a national education charity, and through this we were introduced to the concept of Super Learning Days. A Super Learning Day is when, as a school, we take a break away from the curriculum and promote excellence and enjoyment in learning. At Bishop Bridgeman we took it a step further and incorporated Super Learning Weeks (SLWs) into our school year. Music and singing has formed a catalyst for further cross-curricular development of these weeks.

Over the past few years we have planned and delivered a range of SLWs. 'Passport to the World' was our first attempt at an SLW. Each class studied a different country. The week concluded with a celebration concert where we travelled the world on an aeroplane, sharing facts we had learned and performing a range of music. This week was a great success and got us started on a whole range of SLWs.

We have also run Numeracy and Science weeks. It can be tricky finding appropriate songs related to each given area, but it is beneficial. After much searching I stumbled across a set of song books designed to support KS2 SATs revision by Tim Harding That's Science, That's English and That's Maths have proved very useful resources throughout the school. Now, if you were to ask our Year 5s about the Solar System, or the Year 6s about the water cycle, they would begin to hum their songs!

PRINCESSES AND PIRATES

'Into Another World' was the title for our Literacy week. The school was consumed with sci-fi, underwater and jungle creatures, knights, princes, dragons, princesses and pirates. Our celebration concert ended the week on a high.

Most recently, our SLW focus was on performing and the arts. It began with a visit from The Storytellers Theatre Company, who performed a hilarious version of the traditional tale The Wind in the Willows. later in the week, Bolton Music Service came along and introduced the younger children to a selection of different musical instruments, giving them the opportunity to touch and play them.

Bolton Dance and Performing Arts College impressed our children with a dance showcase, including a range of different dance styles, from ballet to street dance. At the end of the week we put on our very own talent show - called 'Bishop Bridgeman's Got Talent'. This is when we discovered that Bishop Bridgeman really did have talent!

Overall, the children had highly enjoyable week and went home buzzing from the experience. They worked very hard for our talent show and fed off the experience.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

I increased the opportunities for singing throughout the year and, importantly, shared my love and enthusiasm for singing with the children. Many of the children have seen me sing out of the school context and I've acknowledged its importance to me. I always set an example by demonstrating good vocal technique, including appropriate posture, phrasing, tone and diction. The standard of the children's singing has definitly moved forward through good modelling and teaching.

The quality of singing and music at Bishop Bridgeman has improved so much over the past few yeasr, which I think has been achieved through a wide range of different activities. I believe that everyone can enjoy singing, but to improve and grow it needs quality delivery. After a lot of hard work, determination and fun, the whole school has embraced singing and we now all enjoy making music together.

Biography

Helen Rigby is a Music Specialist at Bishop Bridgeman C.E. Primary School in Bolton. She teaches music, with a heavy emphasis on singing. She is a dedicated trainer of young choirs and directs a choir for Bolton Music Service alongside her own school choir. Singing has provided Helen with a variety of opportunities and experiences throughout her life: as a soloist, conductor and member of numerous choirs, ranging from local church choirs to Sine Nomine - an international touring choir. She has even performed for the Pope at a Papal Audience in St. Peter's Basilica! .