A Musical Zoom

A few years ago, many of our supporters generously contributed to the ACE 2022 Christmas Appeal raising money to purchase musical instruments for Arise School. Music has since become an integral and much enjoyed part of the Arise curriculum, providing the opportunity for students to develop their potential through music and bringing the benefits of music to the school.

In recent years, students have also greatly enjoyed and learned from taking part in Zooms with schools in this country, affording them experience of meeting with other children from different cultures, albeit virtually. Given this and their enjoyment of performing, we invited ACE sponsors with a child at Arise to a Zoom concert.

It was envisaged that the concert would be another way of extending students’ experience whilst, at the same time, enabling them to showcase their musical talents. As well as featuring the school brass band, the programme included the school choir and a short video tour of the school hosted by one of the students.

Students practiced really hard for the event but, unfortunately, there was no control over the weather! The heavy rains resulted in fallen trees, badly affecting the school’s WIFI and necessitating a suitable alternative venue to be found locally. In spite of much effort, on the day, the reception at the new venue also proved intermittent.

But, the show went on! Arise students did themselves proud. They gave an amazing performance, showcasing their talents, whether playing an instrument, singing, dancing or showing us around Arise. Those watching also included pupils from Queens Park Primary School, St. Helens, long term supporters of ACE. The Zoom was much enjoyed by all.

From sponsors……….

“It was wonderful to see the children performing and to get to see the school. My children particularly loved the music and dancing. The facilities look fantastic.”

“Thanks for this morning. It was great to see the children enjoying themselves through music and dance.”

“I thought the concert just now was brilliant. The children were really enjoying performing for us.”

“Such a good start to the day! It was lovely to see so many smiling faces and so much joy and enthusiasm ………. It was such a pleasure to take the tour of the school and see what has been achieved there. “Awesome” is an overused word, but it’s appropriate here.”

“It was lovely to see the children this morning. There are certainly some accomplished musicians there and everyone always seems so happy and joyous. It brought back so many fond memories of my visit there and it was great seeing all the extra things that have been added and achieved since then.

And from Queens Park pupils………..

“I liked the singing because they made different tunes and sounds. I especially liked the dance at the end when they had the cool skirts on, it made me dance as well.”

“I loved the children playing the instruments. They played for so long, they will have been practising for a long time.”

“I loved their singing. I liked seeing their school that we have been learning about.”

“Their singing and dancing was beautiful and I loved the trumpets. Thank you for playing and singing to us.”

Our thanks and congratulations go to all the Arise students and staff who made the Zoom such a successful event in spite of the weather. We are also extremely grateful to two supporters who generously donated to make it possible for the WiFi to be upgraded and are very pleased to say that the process is now in hand.