Beverley School Believes

Believing is what it’s all about at Beverley School, a specialist school for children with Autism. The children at this school have overcome a myriad of individual challenges to become one of the most inspirational (and sought after!) choirs in their community.

How it all began

A few years before the introduction of Sing Up at Beverley School, singing was not high on the agenda at all. Awards Champion, Karen Trollope said, ‘although singing was happening in some classrooms, I personally felt we could do better.’

In June 2010 she nominated her children to sing ‘Believe’ at the ‘Snappy Africa’ concert, in support of the World Cup. She chose the song because of its poignancy - ‘We try to support our kids through the challenges of their everyday lives and teach them that they can achieve their goals if they just ‘believe in themselves’!  I never thought in a million years that we would be picked for the concert – how wrong I was!’

Believe

When performance day rolled around, Karen started to worry for the children’s wellbeing. Had she placed too much pressure on such vulnerable young voices? She came very close to pulling them out of the concert altogether, but received so much enthusiasm and encouragement from those who had heard her pupils sing, that it was ‘on with the show’!

The children poured their heart and souls into the performance, each overcoming their own personal challenges to be up on stage in what would have been a very daunting situation for them. Despite being a long and difficult day, their singing earned them a standing ovation from an audience that were moved to tears.

More motivated than ever

Since that performance, the Beverley School singers have been busier than ever. They’ve been invited to sing at all sorts of events since, including their local council’s ‘Big Sing Carol Service’ and ‘The Snowman Concert’ at their town hall. Some of the singers have moved onto a secondary choir and are now Young Singing Leaders – but they frequently return to their original choir to visit and have a singalong. In fact, the current choir taught the secondary choir how to sing ‘Believe’!

Reaching for the stars

Beverley School have secured a nomination for their Platinum Award, and are currently preparing for their next big performance at their town hall.

Tips to take away

• Making music and singing with children with special needs is a challenging but hugely rewarding journey – give it a go!
• We’ve run loads of workshops for those working specifically with children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, keep an eye on our Local Events page to get on board with the next one.
• Karen ensured that her pupils continued singing into secondary by training some Young Singing Leaders, we’ve got many helpful resources to get them well on their way.
• ‘Believe’ is one of our most popular songs on the Song Bank – try it out for yourself!