Our very first SEN Platinum School!

We are positively thrilled to announce that Stone Hill School in Doncaster is the first SEN school in England to receive a Platinum Award, and the 60^th Platinum Award-winning school for Sing Up!

This school has worked tirelessly to achieve 100% student participation in singing, and this award marks their success in placing singing at the heart of everyday school life. 

Singing brought us all together

Sing Up has developed SEN/accessible resources and specific training courses to enable teachers in all settings to engage pupils with quality singing activity.

Susan Thomson, the Awards Champion at Stone Hill School, says these resources have proved to be invaluable: “Quite a lot of our pupils can’t read well or recognise the alphabet, so being able to sing means a good deal. Getting the award is especially notable because some of our children are autistic, and tend to prefer to do things on their own. Singing is something we can enjoy together.”

Singing helps us to get motivated

Stone Hill School has worked hard at incorporating singing into their everyday schooling. Susan has noticed how much it motivates the students, and gives them focus: "Singing for SEN pupils is easy. We are singing all the time and for so many reasons - to celebrate success and achievement, to concentrate or distract when things are going wrong, and to trigger routine - for example, we have a song about getting your coat on! The second they hear it, they do it."

Spreading a little singing

Stone Hill is now extending their fantastic work by acting as ambassadors for other schools. Susan says: “We are helping two schools, one mainstream and one SEN, with their silver award and will be putting things on for others."

They are such Sing Up stars, they’ve even embarked on a song-writing project for the wider community: "We decided we want to reach out to the community and have built a relationship with a care home, Richmond in Doncaster. We are going to be writing songs based on the memories of people there. It's an exercise in questioning and listening, and we have our "roving reporters" to investigate."

The award endorser, Karen Roberts from Doncaster Music Service says “they are an inspiration to all, and an excellent example to others schools in the area.”

Congratulations, Stone Hill School!

Tips to take away

• Work towards a Sing Up Award: by starting on an awards journey, Stone Hill ensured that singing would become, and remain, an integral part of their learning. It’s not too late to achieve an Award
• Explore our SEN resources: songs from our Song Bank helped teachers at Stone Hill to engage better with their students. We have accessible singing resources for children with a range of disabilities, especially those with communication difficulties or physical disabilities.
• Try out your songwriting skills: why not take Stone Hill's lead and give song-writing a go? We have some great lesson plans for KS1 and KS2 to get you started.
• Sing from the classroom to the playground: Stone Hill used transition songs and routine songs to keep the singing going throughout the day. Try some out!