Two teams of pupils from years five and six took part in the competition held at Leicester Grammar School and played some excellent matches. Both teams won their groups and then narrowly lost in the quarter finals. It was a pleasure to see the children enjoying the chance to compete and support each other in many exciting matches.
The children have enjoyed taking part in the activities on the Life Education Bus that has visited school this week. It is a great chance to explore different elements of the Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum, thank you to Mrs Manley for organising.
Pupils from debating club took part in the Global Conference held at County Hall as part of our global learning partnership. The pupils from years three, four, five and six did brilliantly debating against teams from five other schools. A big thank you to Mrs Edwards for organising the whole event.
It was very exciting to welcome the visitors from Leicestershire School Music Service, both past and present, for the presentation of the blue plaque as part of BBC Music Day. The Blue Plaque recognises the huge impact of Eric Pinkett, the founder of the Music Service. Our school was chosen as the location for the plaque as the first concert organised by Leicestershire Schools Music Service was held at our school. The year five children did a brilliant job performing on the taiko drums and enjoyed the chance to be filmed by East Midlands Today (unfortunately they didn’t make much of the final edit) and to appear on Radio Leicester. The episode of Ben Jackson’s show can be listened to again on BBC iplayer, the children perform about 1 hour 45minutes into the episode.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p054dw2w
Photo gallery of the day
This is the full biography for Eric Pinkett.
Eric Pinkett (OBE) – (1911-1979)
Eric Pinkett founded the Leicestershire School of Music in 1948 with the help of the local education authority. This was the first school music service in the UK and led the way for the rest of the county. He was seen as a ‘world pioneer’ in musical education and known as ‘Mr Music’ in Leicestershire.
Eric believed that children from any background should be able to play musical instruments and it should be not be dependent on finances. Prior to his work only wealthy children played musical instruments. He wanted all children to love music as a result of playing musical instruments. He set a team of peripatetic music teachers to go to all schools in the county and provide instruments free of charge. He also set up the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra which became well known for its excellence and patrons included Sir Michael Tippett, Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Arnold. Eric took the orchestra on tours abroad himself to further expand the children’s musical education.
Many of the children have gone onto perform with top orchestras across the world. Today his legacy continues with the Leicestershire Schools Music Service and the schools symphony orchestra.
In the early pioneering days Eric had only his faith to keep him going. He was once advised to rehearse for five years before giving a concert and he ignored it. He knew that the children’s interest would have evaporated without the stimulus of playing in public.
Eric has been nominated by listeners to BBC Radio Leicester and through network programmes.
One said – ‘his influence on the people he taught an on musical education as a whole has impacted the way music is taught in schools and continues today. His passion and enthusiasm should be remembered by siting of a blue plaque in his memory in the place in Leicester where is all started’.
He was awarded an OBE in recognition of his work to inspire young musicians.
The children in year four had an exciting morning working with musical writer and director Hazel Gould alongside members of staff from Leicestershire School Music Services to create a new song. They spent the morning sharing ideas in many ways before developing the lyrics to a song which they will go on to perform next year as part of the Music Service’s 70th birthday. The lyrics will now be put to music before the children have their next season to learn and practice their composition.
Thank you to all involved and to Mr Kirkland who has organised this great learning opportunity for the children.
Thank you to all the parents, governors and staff who gave up their Saturday morning to help with decorating, gardening and various tasks to improve the school for our pupils. We focused on the outside areas for year one and four plus and the children were delighted to see the outcomes. Our school is very fortunate to have so many members of our community who are willing to support in many different ways and this was a great example of what can be achieved.
The children had a brilliant day visiting the Aerozone at East Midlands Airport. They enjoyed the role play opportunities and meeting all of the staff. They have then produced some excellent writing to remember their day. Thank you to Mrs Edwards and all of the four plus staff and parent volunteers for a great day.
Our squad of pupils from years three, four, five and six put in an outstanding performance at the Championships held at Corby Triangle stadium. Competing in sprints, throwing, jumping and relay events, our pupils represented the school brilliantly. Each performance helped the school to our overall result with the finishes each earning points to the overall outcome. A particular highlight was to see our large squad of 35 children cheering each other on, the cheers could be heard from the other side of the stadium!
A big thank you to Mrs House, Mrs Harrison, Mrs Edwards and Miss Parker for supporting and officiating at the event.
The children who have been taking part in the weekly Worship Workshop had a wonderful trip alongside pupils from four other schools in an experience organised by our school Chaplain, Rev. Alison Booker. Launde Abbey is a special location which has always enjoyed by the children who have taken part each year. Over the course of the day, the children had the chance to work in mixed groups representing all of the schools as they enjoyed quiet prayer, visiting the labyrinth, drumming and singing.
Thank you to Rev Janet, Father Felix and Mrs Dowman, a school governor, as well as Mrs Byrne for supporting and leading the activities.