Wednesday 9th November; Pictor School

Jamie Riley and I were lucky enough to spend a day with the children who attend Pictor School. This is a school that caters for children aged 2 – 11 with special educational needs arising from a range of conditions and a large number of the pupils have an autistic spectrum disorder. We began the day with a short performance for the whole school of some hundred or so pupils, after which were split into four groups who we worked with over the rest of the day. We saw the older children in the morning and the younger in the afternoon. Despite our experience with people with special needs, he very board range of the children’s individual needs and abilities made the workshops challenging at first as we gauged how to pitch the drumming; however after a short while of getting to know the children a little bit we could see all how best to tailor our sessions to benefit all and correspond with rhythm with all the children. After the sessions we were encouraged by the teachers and carers who work so closely with these children as to how much they enjoyed the sessions and were told many of whom ‘are still drumming on their tables and desks!’. Thanks to all the staff at Pictor School who made us feel very welcome and special thanks to Dilys Morgan for contacting us and making the arrangement for us to spend the day in your school.