Review of the Conference
Friday, November 4, 2005
Seventy-five enthusiastic primary practitioners attended this conference- the first music conference run by Nottinghamshire Local Authority’s School Improvement Service’s Advisory and Inspection Service. The venue is ideal in that among other amenities it houses the education service’s ICT training rooms and as a conference centre has very good technical back up and facilities.
Lynn Dorling, the primary inspector (now retired) who manages (still!) the primary music training programme for the LA had been keen to put on a conference for some time. She had introduced Kevin Hamel and the website www.tuned-in.org some two years previously to Notts primary schools and the LEA’s literacy manager had funded a year’s site licence for all the primary schools. Helen Handley (primary AST - music) piloted its use in her class and across Ravenshead Primary School where she works. This year, Peter Eardley, head of primary school improvement, agreed to a conference to launch Tuned-in. The IT team consider Tuned-in to be one of the few resources worth their endorsement (for its educational value) and the IT manager agreed to fund the site licence for all the LA’s primary schools for a year.
And so to the conference……….Peter Eardley opened it with a warm welcome to all and a brief talk setting the day in the context of the primary strategy, the exciting possibilities given in Excellence and Enjoyment for freeing up the curriculum and emphasising creativity and fun in education, as well as raising standards of achievement. He also explained why participants had been given two days’ supply cover- one to attend the conference, a half- day back in school to explore the website and plan how to use it and a further half-day during the Summer term (2006) to come back together to share experiences, discuss progress, evaluate and feed back to Kevin and the LA.
Zozo Shuaibu, the London-based, composer and instrumentalist from Sierra Leone, is the driving force behind Tuned-in’s new African Drumbeats materials. Zozo addressed the conference about the role music and the arts have to play in the education and lives of all of us. He stressed the indivisible links between music, dance and drama and the benefits that can accrue in terms of self-confidence, independence and self-esteem for youngsters (or indeed anyone) who is motivated to learn through exciting cross curricular activities. Kevin Hamel, music resource development officer for Cumbria Learning Support Services, talked about the rationale behind www.tuned-in.org as a resource not just for teaching of music, but as a gateway into a wealth of resources underpinning learning and creativity across the curriculum.
After a convivial coffee break, when folks were able to chat to each other and swap experiences of music in their schools, the workshops began. There were four workshops and each delegate was able to attend all four.
Zozo is a natural and inspirational educator who quickly had people involved in singing, dancing and making music. “a brilliant, energetic session “ said one person’s evaluation- “Zozo was fantastic” said another.
Helen Handley (AST) talked to delegates about using www.tuned-in.org in her classroom and across her school and also gave them time for exploring the website using the wireless lap tops in one of the IT rooms. “Loved the website and all the ideas that go with it”, “very helpful”- two of the comments received.
Kevin Hamel’s workshop focused on using the website for teaching good classroom music (with emphasis on practical work- not necessarily technology). He introduced the composing side of the materials and pointed out the usefulness of programs like Compose World Junior (ESP) which many schools have lurking at the back of either the music coordinator’s or the ICT coordinator’s cupboard!
The fourth workshop was run by Edwina Sharp from LMS Supplies –she is a musician and trained primary teacher. She had brought her massive collection of music resources- instruments and music books that folks could browse through (it takes her 1½-2 hours to set up and dismantle!) She also gave a talk about the service that LMS provides for schools which includes advice on purchasing, an audit booklet for schools to identify what they have already and what they need, the desirability of having a strategic spending plan and the repair service they offer. Most people were pleased to have the opportunity to have enough time to look properly at the resources and some would have liked even more time!
The conference ended with Lynn Dorling reminding people to find and read the music newsletter that goes into schools – (but sometimes gets lost!) the courses currently being advertised and the use of the half day before the summer half day return conference. The final act was a goodbye song with the assembled group led by Zozo in his inimitable irrepressible style.
To conclude - just a few extracts from answers to the question ‘What were the most successful aspects of today’s conference?
• “As a non music specialist it gave me much more confidence and really wonderful ideas. I already use a lot of music in my English and drama lessons so it encouraged me to see I’m doing the right thing and now I’m going to encourage the rest of the staff at our school to tie music in with more subjects.
• ”A very interesting day- need school’s music budget increasing by 100% to buy all fab instruments looked at and book Zozo! Half day