How performing and singing in music helps EAL pupils
Got a challenging intake of EAL pupils on your hands? It may be time to call in the chamber musicians…
- by Anna Blewett
Stream a little chamber music during your downtime and you’ll discover an art form of the most exquisitely controlled nature. It’s the kind of formal music that makes you sit up a little straighter in your chair.
But even if string quartets and small ensembles sound fabulous at a swanky wedding receptions, they undeniably have an image problem outside the usual bunch of aficionados.
Classical music composed to be performed in stately palace rooms chambers is, surely, an elitist interest. And yet musicians of this highly disciplined genre have struck up an unusual working relationship with children in one of the UK’s most deprived postcodes. So what makes a headteacher call in the cellists?
Tuning up
Jeremy Jackson is principal at Webster Primary, a three-form entry to the north of Manchester’s once notorious Moss Side.
A high proportion of the nearly 600 pupils qualify for pupil premium and are learning English as a second language, and yet on the day we speak the school echoes with the strains of a local chamber orchestra performing a piece about dementia.
‘We like to expose our children to seeing and hearing those musicians,’ explains Jeremy.
‘This is one of the most deprived postcodes in England and our community is very refugee-based, with lots of asylum seekers, so our families can be quite insular. But working with musicians has been so successful that we do what we can to make sure pupils get every chance to experience it right through the school.’
It helps that the musicians hail from Manchester Camerata, described by The Times’ chief music critic as ‘probably Britain’s most adventurous orchestra.’
Its professional musicians, each classically trained to the highest standard, set aside their virtuosity to explore a whole range of themes in schools. The results are brand new, student-composed works that are performed by pupils.
‘Our vision is to redefine what an orchestra can do,’ says Lucy Geddes, who heads up the orchestra’s community work.
‘We perform very regularly and stay true to a traditional repertoire but also experiment with venues, collaborations and audience perceptions. Within the community that expands to creating new works in order to improve an aspect of life.’
Voices in chorus
Running workshops in school, musicians take up roles as co-explorers, working alongside pupils to facilitate deeper understandings of historical themes, mathematical patterns, science projects and much besides.
‘There’s no sheet music, just instrumentalists skilled in improvisation and composition,’ says Lucy.
‘It’s a very inclusive process. Between them pupils at Webster speak more than 25 languages but the fabulous thing is that we don’t need to work with verbal languages.’
Musicians work with teaching staff to develop topic work or core curriculum subjects, focusing in on elements teachers feel need attention. ‘Over the course of a few days we dissect that subject with the children, creating a phrase bank and exploring melodies and accompaniment,’ says Lucy.
You’d be forgiven for thinking this all sounds a little frivolous in these cash-strapped, results-driven times. In fact, it’s anything but, as teachers at Webster have seen first hand over the five years that the Camerata musicians have been visiting.
‘You never know exactly what will switch a child on,’ ponders Jeremy.
‘The music provision in our school brings out hidden talents in the unlikeliest kids. Speaking and listening can be difficult for our 90% EAL community, so performing and singing is really useful in that regard. In a Reception or Y1 drumming lesson you have kids who are brand new to school from Syria or Somalia and can’t speak the language but can pick up a pattern and count. It’s all there. Music is a massive leveller and it’s hugely inclusive.’
Finding the funds to pay for this important work is considered a priority at Webster, and several factors work in Jeremy’s favour.
The school’s size means a large budget; high levels of Pupil Premium provides funds that can be deliberately earmarked for Manchester Camerata’s engagement with students’ soft skills; and sympathetic governors make sure funding, for the present at least, can be ring-fenced.
A young workforce is also an advantage, with the lower wage bill that comes with some less experienced staff freeing up extra cash. Other schools may not find it so easy, and Manchester Camerata has found its outreach work become a little more challenging in recent times.
‘We’ve seen a dramatic decline in the number of schools that have been able to pay,’ says Lucy.
‘Most just don’t have the budget so it comes down to exploring other funding streams. Charitable trusts are becoming more active as they see schools’ arts activities shrink. There are always ways of collaborating to find funding and we try to be flexible.’
Hitting the high notes
There are no such problems at Webster, but how does the leadership team know their work with Manchester Camerata is paying off? ‘It’s really difficult to quantify,’ admits Jeremy.
‘The Education Endowment Fund website is a good tool for kite-marking different interventions – so whether you send your money on one-to-one behaviour support, after-school maths club, etc – but it’s really hard to make that link between music and hardcore attainment in English and maths.
‘However, we take a broader view. We think it invests in our pupils’ attendance, which is generally outstanding. It tends to be 97% plus, which is above average and particularly good for a highly mobile community like ours with lots of transient pupils.’
‘Music is one of the subjects that some teachers feel is hard,’ Jeremy continues.
‘They view it as technical. I don’t think it is, but it’s one of the first things that will slip off the timetable if you’re not watching, because of the pressure teachers are under to get results in core subjects like English and Maths. And there’s that view that ‘music is messy, I’ll pretend it’s not happening’. So from the beginning we thought about how we could support teachers to feel really confident in their delivery of music, and get results in a really effective way.’
‘So many of our kids come to us really late in their school career, often from abroad and having never been to school, so their progress curve has to be exponential,” Jeremy says.
There’s massive pressure on them to get up to speed with their SATs. But the feedback we get from students is that they love working with the Camerata. We think it helps them attend school and feel happy here, and that’s got to break down barriers to learning.’
Find out more about Manchester Camerata at manchestercamerata.co.uk.
