Trent College: The Big Sing! 2023
The Big Sing! is a whole-day singing workshop for Years 5&6 pupils from local state and independent primary schools, ending with an opportunity to perform in a concert to parents.
The pupils taking part are firstly visited in their primary schools by a teaching member of staff from our Music School, to introduce the songs and help them get started.
They then join us, along with pupils from the other participating primary schools, for a full day singing workshop. They form a choir together and practice singing as a group and learning the art of performance.
At the end the day, the visiting pupils are joined by older students from Trent College, to perform together in a concert for parents and grandparents.
Aims
The aim of the partnership is to establish key musical links with primary schools, state and independent, in our local area.
We wanted to combine value to visiting pupils and staff by providing specialist and fun singing lessons to the pupils, giving them the experience of singing in a large choir in front of an audience, but also an opportunity for CPD for the accompanying members of staff, alongside a lunch time networking opportunity.
Success required attendance by all participating schools, a willingness to work hard and collaborate with others across the day, and parents joining us for a concert audience at the end.
Background
The partnership idea was initiated by the Director of Music at Trent College, Mr Parrans-Smith, based on a similar model that he had run in his previous school.
He was keen to broaden and widen the depth of musical opportunities at Trent College, and in particular to engage younger pupils in our local community.
The participating schools were all invited by the External Liaison Manager, Mrs Rhodes, as part of Trent College's primary school partnership programme.
Resources
The Music School at Trent are integral to the smooth running and success of the partnership. Two teachers and one non-teacher plan and prepare the songs for the concert, one teacher visits the participating schools in advance of the workshop for a 1 hour workshop to teach the songs and leave music/song sheets for the music teachers there to practice in advance.
There are 3 teachers and 1 non-teacher in the Music School that spend all day (8.30am to 6.30pm) organising and running the event. In addition, there are 2 other non-teachers involved from 9.30am t0 5.30pm, supporting the visiting schools and managing the break times and transitions etc., with 1 other non-teacher helping at lunch time (12-2pm).
The event uses the Chapel all day (9am to 5.30pm), a large meeting room (The Fenn) all day for refreshments and bag storage, the Recital Room for lunch activities (12 - 2pm), the Quarry Astro for lunch activities (12 - 2pm) and the main school dining hall for refreshments at the end of the day (5.30 to 6.30pm).
The children and staff all have morning and afternoon refreshments, and lunch provided. The children, staff and parents attend a drinks and canape reception at the end of the day.
All children take home a goody bag with a sports bottle, notepad and pen, and bookmark. They also all receive a school photo of them in the Chapel performing.
There is no financial contribution from any participants.
Impact
"We had glowing feedback from the Big Sing that the children came to at Trent; they're still talking about it now!" Head of Achievement and Proprietor, Plumtree Primary School
"I just wanted to say a huge that you to everyone involved in today’s “Big Sing”. Our children, parents and staff thoroughly enjoyed their time with you." Head, Highfields School
"The children have absolutely loved today. It has been great fun and fantastic to be able to perform to all their parents at the end." HLTA, Firfield Primary School
Pupil Involvement
The partnership included 74 external children and 8 teachers - 25 children and 4 staff were from a state primary school and the remainder from independent schools.
The pupils were Year 4 to Year 6 (aged 8-11) and included boys and girls.
There were 6 Trent College 6th Form pupils, who helped with lunchtime activities and lunch itself. 20 Trent College pupils (Year 7-13) played instruments and sang in the choir at the concert at the end of the day.
Frequency
This is an annual event, held in November each year.
This was started in November 2022, so is in it's 2nd year.
