MCEP Creative Curriculum Partnership

We are excited to be part of this Manchester Cultural Education Partnership (MCEP) initiative which sees cultural organisations paired with education establishments across Manchester, aiming to embed creativity within the school curriculum.  For this project, Note Weavers were paired with the Hospital School based at Manchester Children’s Hospital to develop a digital resource which included links to the City of Manchester.  Thus ‘Songs for a Busy Bee’ was born.

This was an exciting opportunity to bring music to children staying in hospital, but it also brought a number of unique challenges.  Due to the nature of schooling in hospitals and the differing ages/number of children hospitalised at any one time, the sessions needed to be appropriate for all ages in Early Years/Key Stage 1 and offer progression for those children who have a longer stay as well as short term patients.  The ongoing pandemic also meant that it was not possible to lead any live sessions, so the project was designed and developed as a digital resource by music educator Sorrel Harty.

The result was a series of four linked music sessions, with accompanying craft activity videos and song sheets including ideas to extend learning.  The sessions can be used individually or in a progressive series.

The resources are currently being used by the Hospital School and will soon be available as a resource on the MCEP website.