Are You In Need Of Help With Your Music Costs?
Are
you a talented young musician whose dreams of success are being held up by
financial difficulties?
Financial help
Developing a young person’s musical ability requires considerable investment:
- hours dedicated to practice
- travel to be taught by the best available teachers
- specialised courses to expand musical horizons and build on skills
- and the purchase or loan of high quality instruments.
All these cost a great deal of money. In families where income is limited, it is often impossible to find the funds to support these expenses.
This is where Awards for Young Musicians aims to help. By fundraising from a wide range of sources, Awards for Young People run an annual Awards programme, whereby £50,000 is distributed to the most talented young musicians in the greatest financial need.
Awards for Young Musicians is pleased to announce that applications are now invited for its 2009 Awards. The organisation support young instrumentalists, making music in any genre. If you can clearly show:
- that you are really talented and committed
- that you need financial help with your music expenses
Then you can apply for an Award of between £200 and £2000 to help make your dreams a reality!
Application forms are now available:
Visit www.a-y-m.org.uk
Email awards@a-y-m.org.uk
Call 0117 9049906
Or send an A4 SAE (large letter stamp please) to:
Awards for Young Musicians
PO Box 2754
Bristol BS4 9DA
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2009
Sevenoaks Primary Schools show Olympic Spirit
Four
Sevenoaks Primary Schools teamed up to show their interpretations of the Olympics
in what was an evening of wonderful entertainment at The Stag Theatre in August.
Chiddingstone, Sevenoaks Primary, Seal and St Lawrence and St Johns used their combined inventiveness to create an inspiring performance.
The project titled “Pass It On” came from a wish to find ways to convey the Olympic ethos of for example respect, equality, teamwork to primary schoolchildren in a positive way, and then encourage them to use their creative skills to celebrate it - in dance, music, song or other methods.
Sue Casson developed the idea during her work at Chiddingstone Primary School.
Excited by the prospect of a London Olympiad, and seeing Beijing as an ideal springboard for ideas, Chiddingstone decided that this year’s school play would use an Olympic theme.
All seven classes featured in the Chiddingstone School Summer Show.
Chiddingstone's head, Margaret Cooke, encouraged the involvement of other
local schools to
spread the word.
“Three eventually joined us to pioneer the process of what has come to be called 'Pass it On!'”.
Following the successful performance at Kino's Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks this summer the project is gaining new momentum, and will be showcased to schools from across the County on 4 November.
Chiddingstone and the cluster of Sevenoaks Primary Schools are now looking to:
- get ‘Inspire marked’ by the Cultural Olympiad
- host the first of a series of conferences to share and disseminate information at Kino's Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks in the autumn
- create a website for downloading resources (lesson plans, tunes/scores, etc.) and sharing archives (film/audio recordings/pictures/blogs of events and shows, etc.)
- allow early-career creative talent to be networked into schools to work on projects
For more information on the exciting “Pass It On” project contact Sue Casson on suecasson@hotmail.com
Kent Youngsters get Gold in Reading Challenge
The
Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games inspired more children than ever across
Kent to complete the summer reading challenge – which this year topically
had the theme of sport!
Between July and September children aged from four to 14 were challenged to read six books. For doing this the children received bronze, silver and gold incentives such as bookmarks with famous sports stars such as Tanni Grey Thompson sharing her favourite book as a child, yoyos and Frisbees; stickers; worksheets and at the end a gold medal and a certificate.
This year over 14,000 children took up the reading challenge across Kent with 51% completing the six books compared to the 44% from last year. Over 6,000 boys and 8,000 girls made up these numbers across the country.
Sevenoaks had 2,398 children take part in Team Read which was more than any other district and 70% of them completed the challenge. The challenge proved highly popular and 431 young people joined libraries across Kent after it was completed.
Several sessions were run to encourage joiners, which included events such as an illustrator visit and a sporty craft day. This not only encouraged more children to join but also ensured that more children finished the challenge.
‘The scheme is really brilliant and encouraged my children to read over the summer’ said a proud parent. Other children have said that the scheme is ‘cool’ and they especially loved the free yoyo and the holographic card. Many children were excited about showing off their certificates and medals at school.
The sporty theme and prizes for Team Read ensured that more children completed the scheme this year compared to last and also gave children a chance to discuss the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Children not only wanted to finish the reading challenge but wanted to create sports related artwork, and even have a go at some sports whilst in or near their local library!
For more information on Team Read please visit http://www.teamread.co.uk/
Kent Schools Sign up to 20 in 12
Folkestone
Academy was the centre of celebration as hundreds of school children from
nine Specialist Arts Colleges demonstrated the values of the Games through
a series of animations, dance, music, performing and the visual arts.
Hundreds of schools across Kent signed up to the seven Olympic and Paralympic values which can spell out the word PRIDE on the Kent 20in12 Learning Programme on the 17 September.
- Personal excellence
- Respect and Friendship
- Inspiration
- Determination and Courage
- Equality
The audiences were treated to spectacular performances from all the children involved who really embraced the values of the Games.
Whilst some values were depicted by a single Specialist Arts College, Respect and Friendship was shown by St Edmonds, Homewood, St Johns and Folkestone Academy through a mixture of dance and performing arts. This event was supported by a generous donation of £5,000 from the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.
The event marked the launch of the Kent 20 in 12 learning programme which will use the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire learning across the curriculum for children and young people across Kent.
Schools will be invited to develop a learning experience based around any of the selected themes to maximise young people’s engagement with the London 2012 Games and to help them fulfil their aspirations.
Any time in the year these learning activities will be showcased on the schools cluster web pages. In the sixth term of each year, each cluster will select the best 20 activities of the past 12 months.
Hence 20 activities in 12 months – 20 in 12
There will be special awards for individual schools, settings and clusters for the most creative and innovative projects.
20in12 will set a Kent framework for your school to use a little of the “magic dust” of the 2012 Games.
PRIDE in Valence School as it launches its new status as a Sports College - Wednesday 17th September 2008
Pupils
and staff of Valence School Sports College followed Kent’s plans to
celebrate Paralympic Handover day by signing up to the Olympic and Paralympic
Values grouped in order to make the word PRIDE..
- Personal excellance
- Respect and Friendship
- Inspiration
- Determination and Courage
- Equality
The event marked Valence School, Westerham, successful bid in becoming the first Kent special school to become a Specialist Sports College. Valence which caters for students who have complex physical and medical needs joins a number of Kent secondary schools who are already Sports Colleges.
The morning saw 130 children taking part in the five activities around the values and received the relevant letter to be stuck onto a badge. By the end of the morning everyone was wearing a badge with the word PRIDE on it. Valence then watched live from Bejiing the closing ceremony and the handover of the Paralympic Flag to the city of London.
The evening saw the word PRIDE once again take centre stage through a rap performance and Valence then launched their Sports College Status with a much deserved party for everyone.
