INDEX education
Sing out and act up
Old friends and qualified teachers, Sara Allen and Jacky Hintze from Edenbridge, have just launched two new groups for children in Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Songbirds is a music group for children aged five to seven, promoting musicianship skills, teamwork and the multiple social benefits of group singing and musical
games. “Through playing games, children tend to forget their inhibitions when singing solo. Unaccompanied singing is also the best way to develop inner hearing and learn to sing in tune,” explains Jacky. Songbirds draws on the founding principles of Hungarian composer, Zoltan Kodály, whose ideas have been adopted by music educators across the world. The Kodály approach involves using the voice as the first instrument. He believed that singing should be available to all and that music is what binds communities together. “Children in the group will build up a repertoire of songs that we will begin to analyse as we learn to read and write musical notation. The approach takes children from early experience through to musical literacy, using a structured methodology in a fun way,,” says Jacky. Lingfield Mummers is a youth drama group for children aged seven to 11. It includes mime, improvisation, stagecraft, drama games and lots of confidence- building exercises. “Most of all, it is a lot of fun,” explained Sara, who ran the Edenbridge Youth Theatre for many years and is an active member of many local drama-based groups, including the
Edenbridge Players. Lingfield Mummers is open to children who either have or have not had any previous drama experience. It aims above all to build confidence and, the organisers say, is as appropriate for introverts as it is for extroverts. Children will learn skills such as social dexterity, which can prove invaluable in later years. Both groups take place every Friday at Lingfield & Dormansland Community Centre, situated in the centre of Lingfield village. Songbirds costs £24 for six sessions (details from Jacky Hintze on 01732 503606) and is held from 4pm – 4.45pm, while Lingfield Mummers meet from 5pm-6pm, with six sessions priced at £36 – call Sara Allen on 01732 865187 to find out more.
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Drama teacher Sara Allen
Star pupil Franny Collings, St Leonards- Mayfield School
From drama to netball, dressage to textile design, Mayfield girls are renowned for successfully fitting a huge variety of extra-curricular activities around their rigorous academic timetable. Franny Collings (Year 10) epitomises this, ‘work hard, play hard’ spirit: an exceptionally talented water polo player and musician, Franny holds an All- Rounder Scholarship at Mayfield in recognition of her success both in and out of the classroom. Franny plays water polo for her home club, Mid-Sussex Marlins, and for Invicta, a London-based super-club. In March, she captained Invicta’s Under 14 team to a silver medal in the National Finals and was voted the team’s most valuable player. In April she represented a victorious Sussex team at an inter- county competition and was awarded
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two gold medals. To cap a fantastic year, she has also been invited to join the 1995/6 GB Development Squad, despite the fact that she is a year younger than her teammates. But water-polo’s just one string to
Franny’s bow. A gifted choral singer, she recently passed her Grade 7 voice exam, and has been invited to sing with the school choir at a Papal Audience in the Vatican in October. She is also a member of the school orchestra, passing Grade 6 oboe last term. She represents Mayfield in hockey, rounders and swimming, and qualified this year for seven swimming events in the Sussex County Championships. On top of all this, Franny has consistently maintained excellent academic grades. She is modest about her achievements, and acknowledges that the supportive environment at Mayfield enables her to perform to the best of her ability. “Mayfield gives you the opportunity to try anything. Cornelia Connelly, the School’s founder, said “Actions not Words”, but at Mayfield we’re encouraged to explore both.”
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The INDEX magazine october 2011
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