Here is some more information about the Harmony initiative and the next steps.
Focusing on and recognising the feel-good benefits of singing shouldn’t need any justification.
Research suggests that engaging with music can help people grow academically and there are many stories about how people have used music to help with recovery from life’s low points. Although harder to evidence, it is generally accepted that listening to music, playing music and singing all have a positive impact on mental wellbeing.
In normal times it would have been unusual to be in a school for any length of time without hearing the happy sound of children singing enthusiastically in assemblies, in classrooms and sometimes as they were walking through the corridors!
Childrens Mental Health Week is taking place on 7-13 February 2022 and as schools are now starting to sing again, we thought it would be great if we all stopped for 20 minutes at 14:00 on Friday 11th February, join together in our classrooms, assembly halls, offices or homes and take a little time to enjoy the benefits of singing together.
There are a variety of free resources to help schools take part in Childrens Mental Health Week which can be downloaded from the website.
This week is also a great time to remind everyone about the 5 ways to wellbeing, an evidence based set of actions that can be used every day to help look after our mental health.
The song we are going to sing is called Connecting Together and is very simple. You will be able to learn it easily during Children’s Mental Health Week.
We recommend that you start by listening to the song a few times, have a read through the words and generally become familiar with it. Use this link to go straight to the song and lyrics.
Teaching the song shouldn’t be difficult and we have produced a series of resources. Simply break it down into sections, do a bit each day during mental health week and you will be good to go by Friday 11th. If you are nervous about teaching your class to sing just use our premade instruction vidoes with your class and everything you need can be found on a YouTube playlist and we will talk you through it on the 21st January if you can make it.
In addition to singing the song we are also going to include signing and Makaton for the chorus. Again, full instructions will be given so that everyone can learn to do this.
Downloads for the sheet music and lyrics can be found lower down this page.
Join us in an online session on Monday 31st January, 15:45 to 16:45 where one of the singing team from DPA will talk you through how to teach the song and you will be able to ask any questions/get advice re specific needs etc.
You will receive a MS Teams invite to the session so please send us the email address for anyone else you would like to attend dpa.cs@dudley.gov.uk
We are creating a short video for the event that we will use as part of the live stream. Hopefully this will be something that connects your school to the event and gives us a Dudley Schools’ identity.
We are just asking you to send us a few images that your children will relate to. It could be a picture of your school, your logo, a group of staff (all of the staff?) or anything else that makes your school special and that the children would recognise. 3 or 4 images will do it, just make sure they are things your children will recognise and that you have the correct permission/consents in place for sharing if you include children. Send them to dpa.cs@dudley.gov.uk
Harmony will stream onto YouTube and Facebook just as we did for ‘Carols from Resonance’ held in December. There are no restrictions on access and therefore you should be able to access the live stream from anywhere. Children and staff self-isolating at home can do it, you can access from your classrooms, halls, offices etc. The event will last for approximately 20 minutes and will be a mixture of live presentations/video clips and will culminate in everyone singing along to a live band from Resonance.
All we need to know now are your plans for the live stream and how many children you expect to take part.
Please email dpa.cs@dudley.gov.uk and tell us if you plan to do this in classrooms/the hall etc, which year groups are taking part and how many children in total so that we can make sure we send you enough stickers! We will need numbers before 28th January please.
