Pupils celebrate after achieving musicial distinction

The 140 students from Year 2 to Year 6 from St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Darlaston were all awarded distinctions from their exam work with the London College of Music.

Each year was examined at different stages, from Ensemble Step 2 for Year 2 students through to Ensemble Level 4 for Year 6, and required every child to learn to play a variety of instruments.

These included keyboards, steel pans, drums, glockenspiels and the ukulele, as well as a range of other percussion instruments, then classes were asked to work together to play as a whole class band.

For the exams themselves, the children were asked to play a medley of songs by different artists, including songs by the Beatles, Ed Sheeran and Queen.

The hard work of the pupils, who were led by music teacher Lizzie Scoines from "Rock it Music Projects" and school music leader Louise Evans, as each student achieved a distinction and they all received their certificates at a special school assembly on Friday.

St Joseph's headteacher Kathleen Hinton said she was incredibly proud of the success of the pupils and spoke about the importance of music in the school

She said: "We are extremely proud that the children have all achieved such high standards in music.

"As a school, we are committed to ensuring that all children from Nursery to Year 6 have a weekly music lesson taught by a specialist music teacher and are all able to learn to play a variety of instruments.

"We strongly believe that music is fundamental to every child's development and wellbeing."

To find out more about the music programme at the school and other projects the school is involved with, go to st-josephs.walsall.sch.uk