Primary Singing Toolkit

ISM Head of Charity Development, Ruth McPherson, introduces the ISM Trust’s new free primary music education resource, created in partnership with Voices Foundation.

Singing is a universal instrument - we all have a voice. It is integral to musical learning and a powerful way for children and young people to become proficient musicians.

Singing has also been shown to alleviate stress and improve children's alertness, behaviour and self-esteem It helps them bond – whatever the song or language. Through singing, young people can share emotions and express themselves nonverbally.

For all these reasons, the ISM has long advocated for singing to be at the heart of the school.

To help primary teachers develop the skills to lead singing in the classroom, the ISM Trust and Voices Foundation have launched a free new music education resource - the Primary Singing Toolkit.

It can be nerve-wracking for a teacher to sing in front of their class, and many primary teachers have had little or no musical training. This is why the Primary Singing Toolkit has been specifically designed to help non-specialist primary teachers build their confidence when running music lessons, and find their own singing voice at the same time

Embedding singing into classroom lessons works best when teachers have confidence in their own abilities. With the English National Plan for Music Education calling on schools to use singing as a ‘golden thread’ to run through all primary education, and the National Curriculum in all areas of the UK requiring children to learn to sing and use their voices, there has never been a greater need for teachers to develop that confidence.

The Primary Singing Toolkit, which was created by the ISM Trust and Voices Foundation with the support of the Schools Music Association, is made up of 14 videos and accompanying notes and lesson plans, which offer inspirational and practical singing strategies It can be accessed and downloaded for free from the ISM Trust website.

The resource leads teachers through seven full music lessons. The videos and lesson plans take a holistic approach to singing, and cover areas such as: call and response, pitch and composition, notation, healthy singing practices, leading a choir, refining a song, and much more.

The videos follow Voices Foundation’s Musicianship and Choral Directors, Jenny Trattles and Charles MacDougall, supporting non-specialist music teachers at Winterton Junior School, a state primary school in North Lincolnshire. Jenny and Charles teach a song in bitesize steps, which are easy for teachers to follow and imitate in their own schools.

Since its launch at the Music & Drama Education Expo 2023, the Primary Singing Toolkit has been viewed over 4,000 times, and received very positive reviews.

Music educator and choral director, Susan Hollingworth, said:

I would urge all primary schools to download this new resource… This is primary music teaching at its best and a valuable resource has been created for all schools The ideas demonstrated are an exemplar for further lessons on how to use the singing voice in the classroom.

Suzi Digby OBE said:

The Primary Singing Toolkit is an absolutely vital resource. It brings the very essence of singing and its peerless value into the classroom. It gives non-specialist primary teachers the resources, skills and confidence to teach music, through singing, that they bring to other key subjects. By building ‘from the curriculum’, through the medium of singing, this will bring the highest quality music lessons to all children, not just to those deemed as musically talented. And, most importantly, it will give the skills and confidence to our primary teachers for life.

Users of the resource have described it as ‘fantastically informative and accessible to everyone’, ‘really excellent’ and ‘very helpful and enjoyable - just what I needed!’