Drumroots at Oasis Academy Limeside, Oldham

The Drumroots team were lucky enough to be invited to the primary school part of, Oasis Academy, Limeside, Oldham. There to work with the children of years 1 and 2, to bring an exciting finale to their ‘Africa Topic’, and to culminate there studies in a memorable experience. This friendly and welcoming school is just one of a large network of outstanding schools countrywide who, as well as delivering first-class and innovative education, also build ‘Hubs’ in the areas in which it works; providing integrated and diverse services to benefit the whole person and the whole community.

Working with six to seven year olds, it was rather unusual for us to have such an extended period of time with such a young group of pupils, spending an hour and half with each fairly large class could have been a challenge but with these energetic yet well behaved and enthusiastic young people, we were able to do a lot with the time. Starting by carefully questioning the group we could see clear evidence or the curricular studies, upon which we could build, and as ever we teased as much speculation and imagination out of the children on what they thought that traditional African village community life would be like. We had prepared a special Power Point presentation that, using the Academies modern facilities we were able to play music and project on to a huge screen to show the groups images and film from our travels in West Africa, to give the children a real picture of what they’re learning about.

Moving onto music, the groups, for such a young age, responded extremely well, grasping the basic technique and how to play in time, allowing us to pass sounds and phrases around the circle one at a time. We later progressed to teach a traditional African rhythm complete with a song that the children took to very enthusiastically.

Though we’re based in the North West we will travel to where we’re needed, so indeed we hope to return not just to this Oasis Academy but to strike a good working relationship with this innovative network and visit more of their schools in the future.