BBC Spotlight will be featuring an item on Thursday (28 September) about the new Music Centre at Wynstream School in Burnthouse Lane, Exeter – a very exciting new initiative for a primary school with a high number of pupils on Pupil Premium. This is largely as a result of Exeter School’s Music Partnership Programme, which is led by Brian Moore, a member of the school’s music staff, and involving Exeter School pupils in class leadership roles. For two terms Mr Moore and Year 11-12 pupils visited Wynstream every Wednesday afternoon, and led class sessions on plastic trombones, with over 50 children learning how to play them.
With the support of Devon and Torbay Music Education Hubs, Wynstream successfully applied for match funding to help set up the after-school Music Centre, which is now open to all pupils of Wynstream and neighbouring primary schools every Monday – there are already nearly 100 children involved in the choir, brass band, and guitar club.
Mr Moore said “It’s been one of the best projects I’ve been involved with, working with Exeter School pupils to bring instrumental music to a whole year group, and then to see the Music Centre launch. We know how lucky we are at Exeter School to have so much music going on, with over 500 individual lessons and over 20 ensembles every week. It’s very special to be able to share some of that advantage with a local school with significantly greater challenges in creating opportunities for live music activities for their pupils. We know that music can change people’s lives, and if we can do that for children who might not otherwise get the chance, then it really is something to celebrate.”
