Drake Music : top ten needs for Music Hubs and SEN/D music provision

A few weeks ago, Drake Music published a document listing the 'top ten needs' they've identified for music hubs and SEN/D music provision.

This list sums up previous research and leads into their new Think2020 project, which aims to increase musical opportunities for disabled children and young people through strategic and sustainable partnership work in the music education sector.

It's good list, and the reason we're blogging about it is because we feel strongly about the importance of  partnership working, skillshare and information exchange - especially in our area where it's rural, provision is patchy, and sometimes it is possible to feel isolated.

Here are some recommendations from the list:

- Practitioners working in SEN/D and music (or planning to) need to work towards, or maintain, a ‘hybrid’ set of skills in order to best meet the diverse range of musical and access needs

- Communities of Practice/ teacher networks are vital in order to ‘help teachers to help each other’ get better in their practice and to share ideas and resources. 

- Music Hub activities around learning an instrument – Peripatetic teaching and whole class instrumental sessions – need re-thinking and adapting in order to present an appropriate offer to SEN/ disabled young people. Priorities may well include: flexibility, creativity and performing using appropriate music technology.

We have some training coming up that focuses on exploring good practice for inclusive music. Our team have a wide-ranging experience of working in SEN/D settings and we're really keen to share this experience.

If you think our training can help you to increase musical opportunities for children and young people with additional needs, please book a place!
info@heartbeats.org.uk for more information.

2016 : cultivating ways for working with music and growing our ideas...

On the other side of New Year we have two events coming up that will help us to cultivate our musical ideas and grow the way we work .... we should emerge inspired, informed and ready to bloom.

On January 30th our team of music leaders - Alex, Jane and Russ, are leading a music inclusion training day for our trainees, associates and other professionals. We're calling this 'Joining In' ... exactly what 'inclusion' means to us.

The following weekend, we have an 'in house' training day with music leader extraordinaire Hugh Nankivell.

What a luxury!
If you know anyone that would like to come to 'Joining In' please email for details.

Heart Beats Music on the Sound Connections website

We were pleased to hear from Sound Connections after they read our words about inclusion on the Youth Music blog.
We gave them some information on how we work towards youth participation, and now we're listed on the 'Rewired' section of their website.
Being off in the sticks here in muddy Somerset, it's always good to know you're moving in the right direction, and can have a voice in the national debates and research into inclusion and music.
We feel we work hard to get it right, and part of that is knowing and understanding what other people are doing right across the country, in rural and urban settings. We learn from other people and it's good to have platforms like the Youth Music Network to share our ideas.

Listening Lounge tonight ... feeling seasonal

Tonight we'll be thinking about sharing... it's a seasonal thing.....

Playing music with other people gives us the opportunity to empathise, communicate, and share ideas.
By making space in group music we can welcome people in, inviting them to interact. We can affirm through our responses and participate in joint decisions - all without a word.
A circle of gifts. Magic!

Training opportunity with the AllStars team, January 30th

Joining in : exploring good practice for inclusive music

A CPD day for professionals with Count Me In.

This training day is for professionals who are looking for new ideas and ways to use music inclusively .

Join us for a creative and hands-on day in this inspiring setting to explore some different approaches to learning through music. This CPD opportunity is a day of practical exercises, playing, reflecting and discussion, led by the music leaders of the AllStars project, Alex Lupo, Jane Harwood and Russ Stanley.

We will investigate methods and techniques to fully include all children and young people with additional needs.

This training is for educators (mainstream and SEN), SENCOs, teaching assistants, musicians, music leaders and practitioners working in non formal settings.

Topics to be covered:

- enabling musicianship in mixed groups
- inclusion and communication through music
- incorporating interpersonal and therapeutic approaches

The training has a unique, experiential element. Attendees will be offered the opportunity to attend one of our ‘Heart Beats’ live music sessions, to co-lead a workshop with an integrated, inclusive group of young musicians.

Places are strictly limited.

Do bring your own instruments, though some will be provided.

Please bring some lunch to share. Drinks and snacks are provided.

DATE : Saturday January 30^th 2016

Location : The Lecture Hall, Wells and Mendip Museum, 8 Cathedral Green, Wells BA5 2UE

Time : 10.00-3.30                                                                                      

Cost : £40.00  (concs. available, please enquire) 

To book : info@heartbeats.org.uk     01373 813558

Another thought provoking blogpost!

Co-incidentally (or not - perhaps it so 'now' it's actually no coincidence at all) Siggy Patchitt has posted a blog on the YM network about inclusion, and what we're calling integration.
After many years of doing this kind of work, it's great to see it on the agenda.

Recommended reading, anyway.

What we are aiming for is simple. It’s a world where these two things happen:

1. A project is set up so that anyone, no matter what their needs are, can access it.
2. A Music Leader walks into a room and is able to work with any individual, no matter what their needs.

- See more at: http://network.youthmusic.org.uk/learning/blogs/siggy-patchitt/dropping-pennies%E2%80%A6or-jigsaw-pieces#sthash.LSJYcWEX.

What we are aiming for is simple. It’s a world where these two things happen:

1. A project is set up so that anyone, no matter what their needs are, can access it.
2. A Music Leader walks into a room and is able to work with any individual, no matter what their needs.

- See more at: http://network.youthmusic.org.uk/learning/blogs/siggy-patchitt/dropping-pennies%E2%80%A6or-jigsaw-pieces#sthash.LSJYcWEX.dpuf

New post on the Youth music network

Count Me In have just put up a new blogpost on the Youth music network.

It's some thoughts about 'participation' and how tricky that can be to get right sometimes... and how everyone comes to music for a different reason, and just maybe leaves with a different benefit too.

This piece was inspired by a paper by Francois Matarasso, you can read that here.
He says some great things about impact and involvement.

Thanks to Waitrose

The AllStars / Heart Beats team are sending out a big Thank You to Waitrose in Wells.... thanks to their Community Matters scheme we've been donated the grand sum of £276 pounds to spend on new instruments for our music sessions. Yay!

The AllStars Listening Lounge

AllStars is a cluster of projects running across Somerset for two years.

All of these projects explore different aspects of integrated musical inclusion - based on our key principle of improvisation and 'music education by encounter.'

Alex and Jane are running the Listening Lounge. This is a small closed group that meets monthly. The group is equal :  a mixture of mainstream and SEN young musicians who have varied experiences of formal / non formal music education - and most possibly have very different expectations of the role of music in their future lives.

Within these sessions, Alex and Jane are exploring new approaches to the questions 'what is music for?' and 'what does music do for us?'
The Listening Lounge is a combination of community music practices and music mentoring, informed by therapeutic methodologies, in regular closed sessions with a dedicated group.


The group play, talk, listen and explore personal relationships with music.
The process will be informed by the group's narrative as it forms its identity.

We're waiting to see what measurable outcomes will look like. We think that being part of this group will be useful for the leaders and the group - that we can build on our sense of self worth, interpersonal skills, and tools for self expression.

Yesterday evening we gathered together to talk, laugh, reflect, improvise two pieces of music, listen to favourite tracks, and do some quiet, focused drawing to music.
Outside it was dark, windy and wintry, but inside the session it felt warm, relaxed, and safe.
Here are the drawings ...the music has just melted away, into the November night.

Gathering ideas for our training day

On Saturday January 30th 2016, the AllStars Music team will be hosting an open-access CPD session for educators who use music and musicians who work in care and education.
The training will focus on developing a person-centered approach to music: unlocking creativity and confidence.
As a team, we have a wide range of SEN/D expertise, so the training will be useful for people who work in SEN/D, or the wider aspects of musical inclusion.

We'll be sharing some of the thinking and practice that informs our work, both in  our inclusive Heart Beats sessions, and also our wider work with schools, mentoring, and using music as a tool for therapy and communication.

As part of the package, we'll be offering linked opportunities for experiential learning through placements at the Heart Beats music group.

At the moment we're gathering ideas for the day, especially thinking about what 'musical inclusion' means and how to create a 'playful' environment.

There will be plenty of playing on the day, so if you want to come, bring an instrument.


Watch this blog for more details. The venue will be in Wells and the day will run from 10.00 - 3.30. Tickets will be available soon.

spreading the word... an opportunity for young disabled musicians

Our Youth Music funded colleagues Open Up Music are recruiting for the SW Open Youth Orchestra. For anyone that is interested, there's more details on Spaeda's website, here

Fairfield Farm College

Thanks to the Fairfield Farm College folks for hosting an AllStars extra session last Thursday. It looks very calm in the photos but there were 35 young people coming and going over the course of the evening, where we investigated an eclectic mix of mind-expanding looped vocals, funky jam sessions, and a musical chill out.

Starting the session at Fairfield

You can see more pictures on the College website here.

Stay Up Late

Just wanted to give a shout out to the Stay Up Late folk....

Stay Up Late is a charity started by members of the punk band, 'Heavy Load'. Frustrated at seeing people with learning disabilities leaving gigs at 9pm due to their support staff working inflexible shift patterns they decided to do something about it. Stay Up Late exists to promote full and active social lives for people with learning disabilities.
Stay Up Late is about having choice and freedom in your life to do what you want to do.
Fight for the right to party!
www.stayuplate.org
There's a facebook page too

We were thinking about Stay Up Late because it's such an important thing that people can have a life after tea time.

One young musician in our group is able to come along to the Heart Beats group because someone who works with him (well, actually his piano tutor) was inspired by the Stay Up Late campaign to just - get him in the car - and come and play some music. Simple, but powerful.

And we'd like to give a shout out to all the other drivers, parents, support staff, bus drivers and folk who go out of their way to bring people to our sessions. It's a rural area, and some journeys are long - that's why we'll always do our best to welcome everyone and make sure the kettle's on.

Funky Fairfield

They don't know it yet, but the students of Fairfield Farm College who come to our Heart Beats music session tonight are in for a bit of funk ... and they get to try out some brand new AllStars instruments that have just come out of the box....

This isn't our first visit to Fairfield, and we expect to be welcomed and make some great music.
We'll be back in the spring, because the college have invited us to run a music day for their arts week.

 

It's great for our team to get out and about and run some outreach sessions like this. Of course it's a challenge too, meeting new people and getting something good to happen in just two hours, but we have a whole host of ideas up our sleeves, and lots of different ways to include people.

AllStars heading West

Tomorrow we are running the first of our regular AllStars West Sessions - we're off to Bridgwater where we will be the guests of Robert Blake Science College and Elmwood School.
We're working with the students on using music as a means of connecting, making friends, and communicating.
In the sessions tomorrow we'll have a good mix of students from both schools.
This will be interesting ...... it's the first of four sessions this academic year, so we'll be doing some groundwork together and establishing a groove.

Keeping it seasonal

It's apple day coming up so apples give us our theme for tonight's music.
Crunchy.... sweet!

iPad apps ... recommendations from Drake Music

We use iPads, Skoogs and other technology as part of the mix in our sessions. Both Ben and Alex have experience and skills in using assistive music technology.

Here's a great article from Ben Sellers of Drake Music about some top iPad apps...

Top 5 iPad Apps for SEN/D Music Making

Assistive Music Technology (AMT) is all about fitting the instrument to the musician, rather than the musician to the instrument. These iPad apps allow us to do this both physically and cognitively, and a little experimentation can reap big rewards. Here are the five apps I use most regularly in SEN/D settings:
 

1. Thumbjam – Recreate a myriad of instruments from Hang to Tabla to Theremin to Banjo using high-quality samples. Allows the user to achieve great results with limited fine motor skills or theoretical understanding. Also allows us to sample vocalisations and map them across a scale – great for students who want to sing but do not have speech.
    
2. Bebot – A friendly robot character fronts a polyphonic synthesiser with a set of presets that are guaranteed to engage students. The whole iPad screen is used a playing surface, making playing easy for all.
    
3. Launchpad & iKaossilator – Re-create a variety of dance genres – dub-step, DnB, hip-hop, House – using sets of samples from these apps, both of which employ unique, colourful and accessible interfaces. Great for teenagers.
    
4. Airvox - Uses the iPad camera to generate pitches based on the distance between you and the iPad. An audio-visual theremin... try using it with your head!
    
5. Loopseque – Create drum, bass and synth patterns using a brilliant, cyclical interface. Great for students who learn visually and enjoy patterns.

And one more for good luck:
Bloom/Trope/Scape - Create abstract sound and colour scapes with these Brian Eno inspired apps. Great for PMLD groups in conjunction with a projector. .
 

Thanks for reading, please do get in touch with Drake Music to share your experiences or ask questions about any of the apps I've recommended above.

   Ben Sellers, DM Associate Musician

Otoasobi project

We've been looking at the Otoasobi project from Japan... fascinating stuff.They are a group of musicians, music therapists, indivduals with learning disabilities and their families who play improvised music together.

One thing they say is really interesting - about evaluation. The AllStars team spend a lot of time thinking about evaluating our work, wondering how to understand everyone's different experience of playing music together. Like the Otoasobi project, we have a really diverse group of people playing together.

The Otoasobi project say 'Each of the group members has a fairly different aim  - for example education, welfare, art and joy - so we share a belief that every member has their own ways of evaluation. The creativity energy arises from these discrepancies.'

That is very thought provoking.... the idea that everyone plays together, yet for a different reason... and that this makes creative energy. Wonderful.

Our blog on the Youth Music Network...

Finding a Good Room: How much does the space where you deliver your sessions actually affect your work? | Youth Music Network

Music For Alice

We love getting letters - they are quite rare these days, it's nearly always emails.
So it was doubly lovely that when Music for Alice sent a cheque through to us - their grant to AllStars for some new instruments - it came with a hand-written note on the back of a postcard.
This is the postcard :

Chet Baker and his band. How cool is that.
Thank you, Music for Alice.
Anyway, time to get shopping - we have a list ...

this evening - at our new venue

AllStars are go.... the Heart Beats autumn sessions start this evening at 6.00 o'clock.

Don't forget : we're at our new venue

THE LAWRENCE CENTRE
37 CHAMBERLAIN ST
WELLS BA5 2PQ.

Hope to see you there.

Music For Alice

We have just heard that Music for Alice have awarded us a generous grant for some specific instruments.
Music for Alice funds groups and organisations to purchase musical instruments and equipment so they can improve lives through music.

Music for Alice was established to celebrate the life of Alice Macgill, a talented musician who died in the Indian Ocean tsunami together with her mother, while on holiday in Thailand in 2004. She was 23 years old.
Alice began her musical life at an early age and played cello, violin, oboe, saxophone, bass guitar and percussion. She excelled at cello and played with many orchestras including City of Leeds Youth Orchestra, Dales Chamber Orchestra and Kensington Symphony Orchestra. Alice was principle cello in the Goldsmiths College Sinfonia and Chamber Orchestra.
At the time of her death Alice was training to be a Music teacher.
Music for Alice was founded to create a lasting legacy to Alice and to improve lives through music now that Alice no longer can.

Alice's sister Edie said 'We were incredibly impressed by your application and the work that you do.' How lovely is that!

You can see more about their great  work on their website www.musicforalice.org.uk
We get a special mention on the news page .... http://www.musicforalice.org.uk/winners-revealed/

We have also heard that a private donor is gifting a cello to the project. This is exciting and heartwarming : it's amazing and humbling how people are motivated by hearing about the AllStars project.

We had been thinking about getting a cello for a while : big, warm, tactile, something to get to grips with. A while back, Declan, who was the Heart Beats young musician in residence at the time, brought his cello in to a session. Mark loved playing it and it had a real presence in the circle. So we're delighted by all the news today.

Getting ready for a new venue

We're moving ... the Heart Beats music club will be in a new home when we start AllStars up for the autumn on September 17th.
We are relocating to the Lawrence Centre in Wells, which is also called 'TLC'.
We think it will be different - and the same : same people, same instruments, same amazing sounds.
We will miss the museum, though, which has been our base for a very long time now.
Time for something new though. See you there.... at TLC.

TheTLC .... in Union St car park

Somewhere to relax outside

Other people enjoy coming here too

We think it will be warm and comfortable

A good big table for tea and chat

We already feel welcomed

Radco shoppers count themselves in with a year of support for charity | Somerset Guardian

Radco shoppers count themselves in with a year of support for charity | Somerset Guardian

Community matters ... please support us if you shop in Waitrose

Vote for us in Waitrose!

If you shop in the Wells branch of Waitrose in September please can you remember to put your green token in the HEART BEATS MUSIC CLUB slot...

We'd like to say thanks to Waitrose for agreeing to raise funds for us. The more tokens we get, the larger share we'll get of the £1000 they donate to local good causes every month.

We would like to spend the money on new instruments. Please tell your friends and family to support us. Every token will help.

The Listening Lounge.

Here's something entirely new for us : AllStars music brings you ... the Listening Lounge.

Alex and Jane have been hatching plans to use their skills as music leaders, mentors, and musicians to run monthly music mentoring sessions for small, mixed ability groups.
We're interested in how Alex's skills as a music therapist can cross over with community music approaches.

Wells Cathedral school have kindly offered us the use of their music room for these sessions, under the big old beautiful beech tree.... We will meet once a month for some playing and reflection.

We want to connect with this group to play, talk and learn together.

Obviously listening will form quite a big part of it - we believe that active listening is the vital key to musicality : we're looking for a quality of attention, some proper connections.

Partly inspired by the success of the listening space that we've developed at the end of Heart Beats sessions, we will take time to discuss what music we feel inspired by, and to hear what we can all contribute to the group.
Our aim is to work towards increased understanding - developing empathy, emotional and social knowledge and intelligence.   

We'll be offering Arts Award 'discover and explore' accreditation, and a chance to come out and help run outreach sessions with the AllStars team too.

We want to listen to our group, reflect on their strengths and interests, and create a safe space where communication can happen spontaneously through expressive response to others.
We want the group to grow in confidence and feel ensured that friendship can grow from music.
And ... we want to find an effective way of evidencing this, too. Watch this space!

Taster sessions are over, and we have a team....

Our summer tasters are over now and we're taking a break until September, when we'll be moving to our new home at "TLC" - the Lawrence Centre.

What have we achieved? Everything we set out to do, we think!

We've welcomed 17 young musicians to our sessions,  9 of whom had never been to a music group with us before.

We said that we would start the AllStars journey by revisiting some of our favourite music-leading tricks and games. It was a chance for us, as team (Jane - Russ- Alex- Geoff - Ben), to get back into our stride.
The themes we've worked with have been starts and stops;  the 'AllStars pre-Glastonbury party'; silence, and listening; get into the groove - and relax.

We wanted the group to begin their journey towards musical progression; throw  in some ideas and begin to shape how we work; and start to form a real group that interacts and has fun.

We wanted to meet new people, and re-establish our great relationship with old friends too. We wanted to meet new students from Wells Cathedral School, and see what this new mix would sound like.

Some quotes from some new group members :
'Absolutely amazing - I was so impressed.'
'It was great fun.'

Ryan

We have two new volunteer buddies on the team now : Ryan and Katie.
Because they're over 25 they've agreed to take on some extra responsibility.
Katie will be in charge of welcoming and buddying up with the A level students in our group.
Ryan has a special job of supporting Ben, who is so busy running the 'front of house' welcoming everyone and dealing with the paperwork.

Katie

Geoff

And of course, Geoff is with us as our volunteer music leader. Yesterday he led a brilliant re-interpretation of a piece played by the Master Drummers of Ghana that he saw - and met - at Womad last weekend.
And he demonstrated their dance : remarkable!

So there's plenty to look forward to when we get together again in September.

Last taster session and dates for the autumn

AllStars news, July 2015.

AllStars is having a summer break. Our last taster session is July 30^th.

We hope you all have a great summer.

Thanks to everyone who came to our taster sessions. We hope you will come back and be part of the AllStars Heart Beats music team.

The autumn dates are all on Thursdays :

1.     September 17^th

2.  October 1^st

3.  October 15^th

4.  November 5^th

5.  November 19^th

6.  December 3^rd

7.   December 17^th

After Christmas, we start up again on January 21^st 2016.

Sessions will all run from 6 till 8 and will cost £2 a session. Ben, Russ, Alex and Jane will be there to greet you.

One thing is changing!

We have a new venue!!

We are moving to a new venue in Wells. This is called ‘The Lawrence Centre’ and has plenty of parking right next to it.

The Lawrence Centre is a community centre located in the middle of Wells by the entrance to the Union Street car park.

The address is

          The Lawrence Centre,

37 Chamberlain Street

Wells BA5 2PQ

The building is warm and cosy, has good access, disabled loos and a nice kitchen. It doesn’t have a separate room but parents, friends and staff are welcome to stay, we will make sure there’s a comfy place for you. 

See you there!

Happy Day

Count Me In and the Heart Beats music crew want to say a huge 'THANK YOU' to the Members of the Radstock Co-Operative Society who have chosen us as their nominated 'charity of the year'.... and  for presenting us with another enormous cheque, this time for £1,100.

Happy moment....

RCS Director Craig Doughty visited our session last week to present the cheque.

As you can imagine, we soon had Craig and his colleague Vicki sitting in the circle and playing music with us.


The money will help us deliver our AllStars project : we can reach new people by extending our outreach provision, share our news and ideas through an updated website, and invest in some extra management and promotional time to improve the impact of what we do.

Loop-tastic

None other than our brilliant Ben himself:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Loops-Music-Project/201354573276798?fref=nf

Check out his mini-video from Three Ways School.

Partnerships, meetings, Fast Forward Festival... a busy time

It's been a busy time recently - the last month has been full up.

We've been meeting our fabulous partners who are helping us to set up and deliver an excellent programme of music making. 

We've had meetings and hatched action plans with Wells Cathedral School, the Somerset Rural Youth Project, Elmwood and Penrose federation of schools in Bridgwater, and Spaeda in Langport.

We've run an arts week music day in Fiveways school, who loved our work and want us to come back and do more.

We've visited Fairfield Farm College in Wiltshire and fixed dates to do an evening session there, and an arts week day next year.

Alex and Jane have been planning out the Listening Lounge strand of the project, with a focus on mentoring and Arts Award - that's going to be exciting, a new departure for us. We're looking at creating a space where music therapy and community music can work together -  where we can listen sensitively and respond intentionally.

We attended the Fast Forward Festival 'Inclusive Excellence' conference at The Colston Hall in Bristol. This was a thought provoking day that ended in performances by Drake Music and the Paraorchestra.

We were asked to consider that 'The musical world discriminates against disabled people. If we don’t change this, we endorse it.
1. What must the music industry do to create a fair ecology?
2. How can music education change to prepare young disabled musicians for this new ecology?'
We went away with a head full of questions and ideas about access, ability, inclusion, and participation. We need more chance to meet and investigate these big issues together. It's  a vibrant discussion and there are so many angles.
AllStars offers an informal music education environment where our team do their best to provide a valuable, progressive experience for everyone, reacting to individual abilities and interests. We feel we can work with young people who wouldn't have been offered much in the way of formal musical education; we believe access to live music making is a universal right. Not sure if this is 'inclusive excellence', but it's always surprising and exciting, and goes further than we ever thought it would. One thing for sure, there's no discrimination here. Come and play music with us.

On Thursday Jane joined a conversation on SEN/D music education at the Wiltshire Music Centre. Again - lots of thought provoking questions were raised about music, excellence, and inclusion. One thing that emerged was that the AllStars project may be able to help with CPD and developing the workforce.

What we're looking forward to now is our next music session on July 16th. It's all very well talking about music, but you mustn't forget to play some now and again, too...
This seems to be a good time to say how good it is to be part of such a great team, in the SW, doing what we love best : making music!

Oh - and we mustn't forget Geoff: see you all on Thursday.

Yet more great news for AllStars

 

Count Me In are the Radstock Co-operative's chosen charity of the year !
At their recent AGM the Radco members voted 'in favour of supporting Heat Beats and Count Me in for the coming year'.

This means that they will be presenting us with a cheque, which, coming so soon after their last donation, is absolutely wonderful news.

We said we'd use any donation they make for the AllStars project - this will help us to improve our impact, efficiency and quality, and extend our reach.

We like their local ethos and are proud to be supported by them.

Taster sessions - next session is on July 16th

Hi everyone.
Our taster sessions are going really well, plenty of people coming, and lots of good music.

We have a short break now. There is no session this week.

The next two dates are :

JULY 16TH
JULY 30TH

The regular sessions begin on September 17th. If you can't make any of the tasters but want to sign up for the autumn, email us for more information : info@heartbeats.org.uk

We have a feeling .....it is going to be great project. AllStars are go! come and play music with us....

Fiveways School

Geoff, Jane, Russ and Alex had a brilliant day at Fiveways school in Yeovil today.
Fiveways are having their creative arts week at the moment.

Today it was music ...We ran a music session for every single class in the school! It is really rewarding being invited in as visiting artists.

And this is the card that the students made for us.

Thank you, Fiveways school.

They have given us some really nice feedback.

• The pace of the session was appropriate for the different abilities for the group
• All students actively participated – all levels
• The students clearly enjoyed the whole session, were engaged and stimulated throughout
• Signing alongside verbal instruction, students given individual time as well as being part of the group
• Lovely communication and interaction!
• All students really engaged and responsive – lots of excitement and smiles
  
• AllStars was fantastic – all students were catered for brilliantly
• Excellent response to an excellent medium! Super engagement. 10 mins longer (i.e. 40 mins) would have been even better
• WONDERFUL
• Great fun, really enjoyable
• Fabulous!
• Loved it – can you come back again
  
• They all loved it – 100% engagement!