Thanks to the Awards there's more singing than ever going on in English primary schools and musical schools are being recognised for all their hard work.
Sing Up Awards Officer Kate Gibson gives us an update.
Since their launch in June 2008, the Sing Up Awards have been going from strength to strength. With over 800 schools pledged to the awards nationwide, primary schools in England are clearly showing their commitment to putting singing at the heart of school life whether at Silver, Gold or Platinum Award level.
Congratulations to St. Martin's Preparatory School in Grimsby, who were the first to achieve the Silver Award last term. Many more are set to follow. Spaldwick Primary School were the first school in the country to achieve a Gold Award, followed by North Lakes School in Cumbria (pictured),
Kidgate Primary School in Lincolnshire, Hotspur Primary School in Newcastle, Wakefield Tutorial Prep School in Wakefield and Featherbank Infant School in Yorkshire.
Kirsty Body, the Music Coordinator for Spaldwick, says that the Award means a lot to the school as it is a recognition of the work that they have been doing for years and continue to do. "We know that singing is important but it's great to get the recognition for the activity that we're doing regularly."
All the staff at Spaldwick are keen singers themselves and Kirsty has set up a singing squad in the school which consists of three or four pupils from each class who volunteer to be ambassadors for singing in their classes, encouraging their teacher and other pupils to sing regularly.
Last term, three schools achieved the Platinum Sing Up Award. They are:
• Hotspur Primary School (Newcastle-upon-Tyne)
• North Lakes School (Cumbria)
• Kidgate Primary School (Louth, Lincolnshire)
Platinum Schools are those schools whose achievements are exceptional and who are willing to assist other schools and champion the Sing Up Awards and the wider Sing Up Programme. Platinum is awarded to Singing Schools who sustain their efforts and practice across the four areas of the Gold Award and have an outward focus, inspiring and connecting to the wider community, and acting as ambassadors for Sing Up.
The three new Platinum Schools will be presented with their awards early this term, joining the community of 19 honorary Platinum Schools that received the award as part of the launch of the scheme in June 2008. These schools have already been engaging with their ambassadorial role.
Ilderton Primary School in London, for example, were interviewed as part of Sing Up Director, Baz Chapman's keynote speech at the Transforming Children Through Singing conference in November 2008. Headteacher Liz Hills also spoke about what the Platinum Award means to the school.
Baz Chapman, Sing Up Programme Director, explains: "The Sing Up Awards are designed to recognise differences and diversity between schools and classrooms, allowing schools to tailor objectives to reflect individual circumstances.
"We think that schools should be able to achieve a Silver Award within a term and a Gold Award within an academic year, no matter what their starting point. The scheme is a celebration not a test and there is plenty of support available to help schools achieve their goals."
The awards are an excellent way to engage schools with the Sing Up programme and support a school through their singing journey. Sing Up's target is to help every school in England to become a singing school and we hope that involvement in the Sing Up Awards will help schools to achieve this.
Find out more at www.singup.org
This feature was originally published by Music Manifesto, the campaign to improve music education 2004 – 2010.
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