One of the songs we are excited to include in the event is ‘The Future’s in our Hands’, the hugely popular anthem from our 2023 Singing Challenge that brought the house down as the finale in our first Leeds Arena concert. Video footage from our Primary Big Choir Sing will be included in an ArtForms Leeds 400 video, to be released later in the year.   

The event is subsidised by ArtForms as part of the West Yorkshire Music Hub.  There is now a nominal charge to Leeds schools, depending on numbers attending the event. The cost to schools will be as follows –  

£30 for up to 15 singers  
£50 for up to 30 singers  
£65 for up to 45 singers  
£80 for up to 60 singers  

What can you expect from us before the day? 

•  Resource materials (songs/rehearsal tracks and lyrics) for you to use to practise the songs with your choir at school, ready for the Big Choir Sing 

•  A video resource, where we will teach the songs like a rehearsal, for those choir leaders who may need more support  

What will happen on the day? 

• The event will be led by Claire Rivers 

• The songs will be accompanied by our house band 

• Extra material will be taught, in addition to the songs we share before the event. 

How to book  

All schools will be sent an email invitation to sign up via Leeds for Learning in the final week of the spring term.   5/2026-06-19/09:45/t-

Bookings will open at 9am on Wednesday 1st April. Follow the link below to book your tickets:  

• Morning session:  9:45-11:15  

• Afternoon session:  13:00-14:30  

If you are music lead and do not receive our emails, please let us know at educ.artforms@leeds.gov.uk and we will add you to our mailing list. Also, to automatically receive the Primary Music Newsletter by email, please ask your business manager to tick “Music Leader” in the roles section of your Leeds for Learning user account. 

Please get in touch if you have any further questions about this event: claire.rivers@leeds.gov.uk 

From September 2024 the West Yorkshire Music Hub replaces LMEP.

Although this funding goes some way to supporting extra music provision, we recognise that for some schools budgets are still very tight and more funding is needed to help deliver quality musical experiences. With this in mind, we have conducted a funding review to direct schools to find external funding streams. This is now on our website Funding Review (artformsleeds.co.uk)

We hope you find this information useful and feel encouraged to apply for further resources to enhance you music opportunities in school.

Please check the links to each website for further details of eligibility and how to apply, checking for any changes that may be made after publication of this report. West Yorkshire Music Hub cannot accept responsibility for any errors or changes made to the funds further to publication of this report.

Sarah Truscott – Assistant Head, ArtForms (WYMH)

On Friday 15^th March we are hosting the return of our secondary singing day which in previous years has featured Mark De-Lisser (2018) and Craig Lees (2019).  Craig is now returning for the first secondary vocal day since COVID. This is partly in response to feedback from our LMEP Secondary Music Leaders Network sessions where requests for more, high level singing opportunities for secondary school students and the chance for schools to sing collaboratively, were requested by Heads of Music in Leeds.

The need to improve both the amount of singing and the opportunities to sing more demanding repertoire is supported by the recent Music Subject Report from Ofsted which stated that – The strongest aspect of the curriculum in primary schools was teaching pupils to sing. In secondary schools, curriculum content that developed pupils’ singing and vocal work was far rarer. Singing was a significant aspect of the curriculum in only a very small number of secondary schools. Most secondary schools did not build on the strong progress and enjoyment that pupils had experienced in their singing at primary school.

All secondary schools in Leeds are invited to take part in this event for individual singers and choirs from Yr 9 up to Yr 13. The structure of the day will be to learn 2 pop song arrangements in multiple parts and then to perform them en masse at the end of the day. Regular breaks will be planned throughout the workshop to protect voices. All participating schools will be provided with sheet music of Craig’s arrangements so that choirs can perform them back in school and/or groups of singers can rehearse their parts and record for exam coursework submissions. This event is fully funded by LMEP, with no charge to Leeds schools. Book tickets here. For more information please contact Jane.Roe@leeds.gov.uk.

Please note that as this event is fully funded, students will be expected to bring their own lunch and refreshments.

Craig is a Contemporary Vocal Coach, Choral Director, and Arranger. He is a Senior Lecturer on the Popular Music Degree at Leeds College of Music. To read more about his career, see his biography here.

Leeds Conservatoire are also offering discounted tickets to all students and staff involved in the secondary vocal workshop for the following events –

‘The Road to Joy’ Contemporary Pop choir concert: Thursday 21 March, 7.30PM, The Venue

‘The Road to Joy’ Contemporary Pop choir concert: Friday 22 March, 7.30PM, The Venue

For more information please contact Jane.Roe@leeds.gov.uk

As part of LEEDS 2023 Year of Culture, LMEP teamed up with Leeds 2023 to bring you a new commissioned song with free resources for all schools, as part of Leeds Language Week 2023.

Created by LMEP partners Musical Futures for the Year of Culture, ‘City Of Our Dreams’ celebrates multiculturalism in Leeds and invites learners to sing in multiple languages!

Get involved!

Free online resources are available for teachers to guide classes through learning and performing the song.  The resources are suitable for primary and secondary schools.

We would love as many schools in Leeds as possible to get involved and use these resources, which can form part of Music lessons, or even Modern Foreign Languages or Citizenship. This FREE resource includes backing and performance tracks, and sheet music to allow instrumental performance to accompany voice performance if you want to.

The song encourages learners to learn to sing in French, Spanish, Romanian, Polish and Urdu, but we encourage you to add in other languages you may have in your school.

Resources

To access the song resources please click on the following links:

Video resources – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6WV9wEVdssgwikG-yDybeYC2SmjYDPX4

Lyrics, audio and chord sheets – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-DzJxi6Hr3e1Fno2obDLSeehnzGZWj8E?usp=drive_link

We would love to see you share any images and clips of your school practicing for the challenge on social media by tagging @LEEDS2023, @ArtFormsLeeds and #LeedsMultilingualSong.  

Please note that all children and young people captured on your video must have photographic and video permissions, as these images will be shared on the internet and social media where necessary.  

Our first event was our ‘Winter Voices’ concert, held in Pudsey Civic Hall on 29^th November 2022. Six ‘Satellite’ primary choirs who had signed up to the Network were invited to join together to sing Christmas music, from Benjamin Britten’s ‘New Year Carol’ to Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody,’ alongside Secondary Choirs and a live band – giving cherished experiences and memories for the children and their families. One of the choir leaders said:

I loved the children’s comments about the senior choirs and how they loved them and wanted to sing like them, I think it gave them real inspiration and purpose for singing. The parents and children were buzzing at the end.

Elizabeth Eales, Shadwell Primary School.

In spring 2023, we launched our first ‘Sing and Swing’ events in the north and west of the city, which brought together local school choirs to sing Jazz and Swing songs, accompanied by a live band. The aim of the project has been to give choirs an event to work towards, to introduce choirs to new repertoire and give them the experience of performing with professional musicians. The events have also helped to reinforce links between local schools.

After our first event at Alwoodley Primary School, Caroline Pattenden (Assistant Head teacher/Choir lead) said:

It was a fantastic event and I felt so proud to be hosting it at Alwoodley. It was so lovely to see so many children singing together again and the smiles on their faces just said it all. Having parents back in school was great and the comments after the event were so positive from staff and parents/carers. I heard some children saying that it was one of their best days ever! Memories I know will last a lifetime for them all.

In addition to running events, we have offered practical support to schools who have wanted to run a choir for the first time, by modelling good practice and signposting choir leaders to useful resources.

Our Schools Choir at Leeds Arena has been our biggest one yet, and we are proud to have given every primary school in Leeds the opportunity to be represented. We had a 400-strong Leeds Schools Choir at the event, including pupils from 48 primary schools across the city, with pupils from Y7 and 8 from two of our secondary Champion Schools joining us too.

It’s not too late to join the network! We have a live link to a Google Form which schools can sign up to at any time in the year: https://forms.gle/TxwV1nU8gHs58Ksb7

Claire Rivers

Leeds Schools Choirs Coordinator, June 2023

For more information, please see the flyer. You can also use #LeedsSingingChallenge2020 on your school’s social media platforms to promote the event.

We can’t wait to see all of your entries!

For more information, including how to download the songs for free, please see our flyer. Encourage your family and friends to support your school in the event by displaying this poster or sending it home with pupils. You can also use #LeedsSingingChallenge2019 on your school’s social media platforms to promote the event.

We can’t wait to see all of your entries!

For more information, including how to download the songs for free, please see our Leeds Singing Challenge Flyer. Encourage your family and friends to support your school in the event with this poster (pdf) that can be put up in schools or sent home with pupils. You can also use #LeedsSingingChallenge2018 on your school’s social media platforms to promote the event.

We can’t wait to see all of your entries!

Bookings are live on Leeds for Learning. A login is required to book online, if you – or your school business manager – are new to Leeds for Learning, please email the team at leedsforlearning@leeds.gov.uk to request that they set you up with an account.

For more information about what Music Connect can do for you and your school please contact Paula.Brookes@leeds.gov.uk