Scottish Ensemble is expanding its Music for Wellbeing offer, with a new partnership taking us into Lourdes Secondary School in Cardonald, Glasgow throughout the 26/27 academic year.
Starting from today, our musicians will be leading sessions with pupils from S1 – S3 age groups, as well as the school’s dedicated Nurture and Learning Zone classes for students with additional needs.
S4-S6 pupils will benefit from sessions focussed on coping with Performance Anxiety ahead of practical exams, as well as exploring music listening exam content through live music to help bring their learning to life, creating meaningful connections with musicians and their peers.
The sessions will be a blend of performance, discussion, and creative responses to live music, designed to create an understanding and enthusiasm for music and explore the links to wellbeing it can offer. Throughout the year we’ll be working with our long-term collaborator, workshop leader Lucy Drever, to deliver the project.
The new programme represents a focussing in of Scottish Ensemble’s established schools activity, which has been successfully delivering sessions to help nurture creativity, musical curiosity, and wellbeing for hundreds of young people each year, with the activities offered completely free of charge. This new partnership will aim to deliver a more tailored and impactful offer for young participants over the coming years.
Debbie Connor, Faculty Head of Performing Arts at Lourdes Secondary School, said: “We are delighted and feel very privileged to be working so closely with Scottish Ensemble over the next few years. The team will be working with our pupils from S1-6, our Nurture pupils and our Learning Zone pupils. To have this multi faceted approach and ability to reach, and benefit, so many of our pupils is brilliant and we are so looking forward to it. As a music teacher myself, I am particularly looking forward to the interactive way that Scottish ensemble are bringing music concepts for our Senior pupils to life. The wellbeing benefits as they lead our pupils through mindfulness activities and help them build coping mechanisms for performance anxiety will be so worthwhile. Lucy and the extremely talented musicians are superb at what they do, and we can’t wait to get started!”
James Hardie, Chief Executive at Scottish Ensemble, said: “We’re excited to begin this new relationship with Lourdes Secondary School. This multi-year partnership will give us the opportunity to work closely with young people across the school community, creating impactful experiences through music that build confidence, inspire creativity and enhance wellbeing. By focusing our efforts and expertise in a sustained and meaningful way, we hope to make a lasting difference to the lives of young people, while contributing positively to the wider school community in the years to come.