The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - providing inspiration for young people
The youngsters spent a day with musicians from the orchestra who shared ideas on making music and taught the children how to play instruments they had never come across before.
The event was for younger children who are looked after by the council and those aged around 18 who are about to leave care.
Nine-year-old Rahim said: “I’ve had the best day ever, I really loved playing the trombone.”
Liah, aged 16, said it was a “really fun time working with professional musicians and learning how to play the cello”.
Following the event, many of the children expressed a keen interest in additional music lessons and learning how to play instruments and these will now be funded through their Pupil Premium Grant.
The event was staged at Burntwood School and forms a key part of the council’s ambitious £2m programme to help children and young people recover from impact of the pandemic.
This recovery programme incorporates five foundations that will provide a comprehensive package of support for the borough’s children and young people, to enable them to be the best they can be and unlock and fulfil their potential.
The five elements cover: Tutoring and mentoring; Healthy minds; Sports and arts; Access to tech; Employability.
Wandsworth’s spokesman on education and children’s services Cllr Will Sweet said: “Covid-19 has had an undeniable impact on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Lockdown has made it harder for children and young people to do the things they love outside the classroom.
“In partnership with our schools, Wandsworth has been working on an ambitious programme for local young people focused on making up for lost time, lost learning and meeting changing needs. The council has launched a five-point recovery plan to address this and one of the priority areas is arts and sports.
“This event has helped inspire these young people to explore new ways of making music and learning new artistic skills. It is definitely something we will be looking to build upon in the future and would like to thank the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for their help and support in making this such a successful initiative.”
To find out more about the roadmap to recovery for young people you can read the read the committee report or a summary outlining the five steps in detail.
An informative leaflet outlining the wide-ranging support that will be offered to the borough’s young people can also be viewed here.
