Upton upon Severn is a musical town with many festivals and we gain many musical opportunities through this. We aim for our music curriculum to inspire a life-long love of music and for our musical activities to develop each child’s musical talents as well as understanding the emotional effect music has on them. Children learn through practical musical experiences, such as using our school djembes (African drums) and our regular singing services, as well as opportunities to perform in the town’s festivals, including the Blues and Jazz festivals.

We celebrate our singing in church and have strong musical links with the parish and Baptist churches, who have each helped fund ISingPop projects, which have been great fun, as well as enjoying the musical support of the fabulous church organist. Class music lessons are fun and engaging, based around developing each child’s singing voice and encouraging their composing and performing skills with our classroom instruments as well as becoming reflective listeners. Many of our children have instrumental lessons from our visiting specialist teachers, learning piano, keyboard, guitar, ukulele, flute, clarinet and saxophone. We have a bank of woodwind instruments that we lend out free for a year to older pupils to help start their instrumental playing.

JAZZ FESTIVAL

Each year at Upton upon Severn there is an international jazz festival. This has been running for over 30 years and each year develops and evolves and always includes a jazz parade in the Saturday of the event. A New Orleans style event in Upton upon Severn! 

The festival offers a blend of jazz styles throughout the ages, attracting all audiences with a mix of mainstream and swing with traditional jazz and Dixieland style included too. It is an important part of the community and as the local school we are always there in support.

The children enjoy the atmosphere and to experience the parade with the amazing jazz music is an inspiring experience. Over the years the jazz festival has run a competition for the child that designs the best umbrella. This year two prizes were given and they were awarded to two of our children in year 5, Ellie Fielding and Louis Windows. They both won vouchers for a special day out. As a school we love supporting Upton Jazz and we look forward to seeing you at the next one!

BLUES FESTIVAL

The Upton Blues Festival is an annual celebration of Blues Music that takes place in the town of Upton Upon Severn in Worcestershire with three official stages throughout the town and other separate pub locations.

The festival also caters for music workshops, where the different styles, instruments and voices are open for discussion and demonstration. There’s also music in venues mainly based in the pubs in the town, as well as open-air venues.

The Upton Blues also work with the school to provide music workshops and these events are extremely popular and most rewarding for all of our children. During the day the musicians work with us sharing the development of Blues music and giving us a taste of the essence of the festival. The Upton Blues have also given us support for a variety of projects within school, the latest of which was the presentation of a cheque for £2,360 which enabled us to upgrade our PA system. 

BELL BOAT GALA

In our school we are fortunate enough to be the owners of two Bell Boats that we keep, with support, from the Upton Marina which is owned and managed by Tingdene Marinas. The Bell Boats were designed by Olympic Canoe Coach David Train.  It is a totally unique design in watercraft. Its purpose is to remove the fear of taking part and to help with team work and co-operation. The versatility of the Bell Boat holds no bounds, it is a long lasting robust platform for introducing all ages to water sports as well as a classroom on the water. As our school puts a great deal of input into ensuring we work together as a team the Bell Boats are the perfect vessels to have team co-ordination in action. The outdoor learning aspect enhances our children’s emotional well-being and to spend time on the river in such a perfect environment provides many outstanding opportunities for individual development. Even on a rainy day there are many therapeutic advantages to spending time on the river. 

The Bell Boating program in our school runs throughout the Summer term and into the Autumn. Children’s clubs take place on a regular basis after school and PE sessions are also held on the river. It is a super sport and one that is built around the team ethos enabling each child to benefit from the support of the others in the boat. It only works effectively when everyone rows together and we do enjoy our regular Bell Boating sessions. In addition to this we also run Saturday sessions for our parents during the summer months and this has become an increasingly popular activity reaching out to supporting our parent’s health and fitness and working as a team with the school.

Each year there is a Bell Boating Gala and in 2018 it was held on 30th June at Tewkesbury Marina. This event was very well attended and all of our children achieved positively. It is a fun event which all the local schools are involved in and we are looking forward to the event in 2019.

Our results in 2018 were:

• Year 4 – 2nd overall
• Year 5 – 2nd overall
• Year 6 – 1st overall
• Adults – Team B – 1st overall
• Adults – Team A – 2nd overall

For more information on Bell Boats see the Bell Boat website: