St Peter’s Primary ‘Launchpad’ their radio career!
In July 2023, Dave Kennard – Music Lead for St. Peter’s Primary School, Wem – attended a CPD session at Shropshire Music Service. Delivered by Lead Teachers from Shropshire Music Service, the session focused on using technology in the primary classroom, training teachers to use Launchpad in their creative music-making sessions.
Mr Kennard went straight back to his year 4 class and opened the app, guiding his students to compose a three-minute track. During the class, Mr Kennard said ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could play these tracks on the radio?’ and – at that precise moment – realised that his brother-in-law works at Crackers Radio, an internet radio station and is the DJ for the primetime Friday night slot. The children’s tracks were sent to the station who listened to them all to determine whether they were suitable for airtime.
On 21st July, one of the tracks made its first UK radio debut. Christian Woodyatt, the DJ, was amazed at the quality of work produced by the year 4 class, and chose to play a track by Lacey, aged 9, titled Summertime Drives. The DJ was delighted by all the tracks and was only too happy to give the next generation of music producers a chance to showcase their work.
‘DJ Dave’ Kennard is so proud of the children’s achievement and was delighted to be able to apply his newly acquired Launchpad skills (thanks to Shropshire Music Service) to a composition task. Mr Kennard said, ‘This is a beautiful, happy ending to a term using the Launchpad app. I’m so pleased we were able to use technology to foster the creative and composition skills of our children.’
Hear the track played live on Crackers Radio here.
For further information on CPD and the use of technology in the classroom, contact admin@shropshiremusicservice.org.uk
