Rose Learning Trust Choir

Over the past few weeks we have been running workshops at all 7 of the Rose Learning Trust Schools.

The focus of these workshops was to find 15 singers from each school to join us for a Choral Day to be held at Hill House School on July 4th.

From Richmond Hill to Woodfield, Crowle to Lakeside, Hatchell wood to Balby Central and finishing up at Owston we worked with close to 2000 children, who were all brave enough to sing solo for us.

The song of choice was A Million Dreams, which Debbie has now renamed A Trillion Dreams😄

With 105 children selected along with 2 year 6 leaders we descended on Hill House School last Thursday.

After starting with a warm up and ice breaker team games we were quickly into learning the first song of the day. The Orchestra Song is in 6 parts and the singers worked really quickly to learn the piece.

More team games were followed by our second song. For this we chose a piece in complete contrast. Baby Mine (from Dumbo) is a very gentle song with some pretty high, quiet, notes and, once again, the singers worked brilliantly to learn the parts very quickly.

There was another objective alongside having a fun day of singing. That was to select a maximum of 40 to form a brand new trust wide choir.

Before breaking for lunch we started listening to the singers individually and started the unenviable task of picking the 40.

It‘s such a difficult thing to do and you know you’re not going to get it 100% correct.

Hill House School’s Mr Whippy machine was very well received and worked its socks Off through lunch.

The afternoon started with a Bill and Ben championship, each school selecting their top 5 players.

The final song of the day to be learned was This Little Light Of Mine (always a favourite). With the selection of the final 40 continuing, we needed to count up how many of the singers were definitely in and how many maybe.

The count up revealed 30 definitely in and 20 vying for the last 10 places. Debbie then had the impossible task of making the final cut. But, it had to be done.

With the final 40 chosen it was 2pm and time to perform our 3 songs for the heads of schools along with Hill House staff and students.

Hatchell Wood were revealed as the winners of the team games, much to their head’s delight.

They nailed the first two songs and then the final 40 stepped forward to sing the 1st verse of This Little Light.

We were astounded by the amount of material that was covered in the space of 4 hours.

This is whole project has been the brainchild of Jill Foster and Helen Harrison, superbly supported by Jayne Miller. It is a delight to work alongside people who have such vision and appreciate the importance of the arts in education.

So, without doubt, a wonderful, memorable day.

Special thanks go to Mr Holland and all at Hill House School for hosting and transporting all the children. Izzy, Amanda and John Bennett (as ever).

Not forgetting the Hill House Senior Ensemble members, Ishita, Libby, Amber, Tia, Rebecca, Anya, Josh, Ruby, Lizzie and Maria who mentored and supported the singers throughout the day.