End of the School Year Assembly at Holme on Spalding Moor School by Carole Shiels Trustee
Holme on Spalding Moor School is one of twenty-one member schools who have benefited from receiving funding from the Jean Freedman Music Foundation which aims to preserve and promote Music in schools. The funding the school previously received from the Music Foundation helped the school to enhance its music curriculum. At that time, the school did not have any funds for specialist music support and so they used money raised and donated by the Foundation to employ a very talented and experienced music teacher for one afternoon a week for two terms.
Recognising the positive impact that the money had had on their pupils and the transformation it had made on their music provision, especially in KS2, they were then keen to give something back to support the Jean Freedman Music Foundation and decided to raise some valuable funds and then made a donation of £216.76, which was half of the proceeds raised from the school’s Christmas concerts and also included money raised by children (in Years 3 and 4 at that time), who had recorded and sold a CD with a Christmas track that they had written and performed themselves. They wanted their donation to go towards helping children in another school re their music experiences which was really kind and an extremely thoughtful gesture.
As one of the Trustees of the Music Foundation, I had the pleasure of attending their end of year School Assembly at Holme on Spalding Moor on the afternoon of Friday 21st July 2023.
The event was well attended by families, in particular parents of the Year 6 children, and there were also a few invited guests, including myself, and some from the local community who took part in the assembly by presenting trophies and awards to children. I had the great privilege of being asked to present the Music Award and the Art Award. It was lovely to see how proud the pupils were on receipt of their awards and the support from the other children in acknowledgement of these children being worthy recipients.
During the assembly, the children from Years 4, 5 and 6 performed a couple of songs that were clearly popular with both children and staff as well as a group of the Year 6 children taking turns to read a poem which aimed to capture some of their special time at the school.
The Headteacher, Mr Woodhouse, talked about The Jean Freedman Music Foundation during the assembly and reminded staff, pupils and their families how the school has benefited from funding in the past and how appreciative the school has been for the ongoing support as a member school.
Mr Woodhouse is sadly leaving Holme on Spalding Moor School at the end of this term and taking up a position in another school in a different Authority. I have no doubt that he will be greatly missed by pupils, staff, governors and members of the local community. As a Trustee, I hope that Home on Spalding School will continue to be a proactive member of the Jean Freedman Foundation and the children will continue to be supported to navigate many more exciting opportunities available to progress with music including opportunities beyond their core school provision.
Being a Trustee himself as well as a respected Head teacher who has already contributed so much, I know that Mr Woodhouse will continue to champion the work that the Jean Freedman Foundation does to preserve and promote Music in schools.
Mrs C Shiels Trustee
