Music at Luckley House

HOW MUSIC IS HELPING PUPILS AT LUCKLEY TO THRIVE

Music education readies students for learning by helping to develop their basic mental skills and capacities (How Music Education Helps Students Learn, Achieve, and Succeed’ https://files.eric. ed.gov/fulltext/ED541070.pdf)

Here at Luckley House School our pupils get many musical opportunities, both in their weekly lessons and enrichment through clubs, ensembles and trips.

In Year 7 all pupils, in their first term, take part in a carousel of ‘Instruments of the Orchestra’.

They play, under the leadership of our specialist teachers, the instruments of the brass, string and woodwind family. We then encourage them to take up lessons. Learning a musical instrument or singing can help develop a child’s confidence and creativity, and sparks all areas of a child’s development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy.

We perform regular concerts at Luckley in our fantastic professional theatre, The Whitty Theatre.

Chilcott Choir with Bob Chilcott

Our most recent concert showcased an eclectic mix of musical genres, with solos, duets and group performances, including our Chamber, Junior and Senior Choirs, the Wind Band, Rock groups and Ukulele group.

Other opportunities include large group singing. For example, on Sunday 28 November our junior choirs joined together with the Berkshire Maestros Young Voices to perform under the highly esteemed conductor and composer, Bob Chilcott. This was an amazing experience and collaboration for all our young singers as they worked together for the event.

We also run a KS4 workshop in the summer term around the theme of ‘World Music’. All Year 7 and 8 pupils experience a whole day of creative practical music making in workshops, specialising in different musical cultures from around the world, including African drums, Samba bands, Russian handbells and songs from the Commonwealth.

With all the restrictions that Covid has placed on practical music making, for last year’s Year 7 and 8 pupils, this was a very positive day for their creativity and well-being and plans are already under way for something similar this summer.

Luckley House School Luckley Road, Wokingham RG40 4EU Tel: 0118 978 4175 Email: Registrar@luckleyhouseschool.org www.luckleyhouseschool.org