Voyagers – Camden Music

Camden Music is committed to giving every child the opportunity to experience, enjoy and learn music. As such, we regularly review our activity programme so that more young people can make music with us.

In September 2023, Camden Music launched a pilot of a group for primary school-aged children with SEND. The aims of this group were to:

enable high-quality musical learning for disabled children, assisted by their parents/carers, to participate in social music-making
include children with a range of learning disabilities from mild to profound, many of whom have related sensory or physical impairments, autism or complex needs
create a pathway in Camden for primary children to progress to other local music activities, including the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) English Folk Dance and Song Society – Folk Unlimited (efdss.org)

“The tutors were excellent – meeting the children on their level. I loved when the sessions were more of a free flow jamming session – all about exploring.”

“I loved how the tutors took their lead from the children and really brought them into the sessions. It was a lovely session to do together with my son and to meet some other families.”

Parent Quotes

Following the first term of the pilot at Edith Neville Primary School, the group was named ‘Voyagers’ to communicate the idea of musical exploration and discovery and the fact that the young musicians are travelling together, collaboratively, on this journey. An open, light and airy space was important in enabling children with complex needs to socialise and interact with each other through music making, and the Hub Space at Edith Neville was perfect.

Across the school year, 15 young musicians aged 5 to 11 participated in a number of sessions along with their parent / carer, led by three specialist SEND music teachers.

We quickly learnt that our participants had very complex lives and were not able to attend every session. With fewer participants, while individuals still enjoyed the sessions, it was harder to create a sense of communal music-making and the social benefits that offers. In Term 2, we signed up more families per session so that even with absences, there were sufficient attendees for this essential interaction.

Voyagers set sail again in January 2024 with 31 applications for ten spaces; we happily were able to offer all families a place a month later when we were able to run a second weekly session at Kentish Town C of E Primary School.

Participants included young musicians with visual impairment, autism and developmental delay.

Two sessions were observed by a specialist SEND music teacher from Swiss Cottage Special School, who was overwhelmingly positive about the musical learning taking place.

We have understood that musical exploration is more important than musical outcome in this setting. We have seen how children with SEND react to sound, and sound that is unorganised (as opposed to beats, bars and repeated rhythms). Tutors have introduced objects for more sensory-based music activities, such as bubbles, foil, and other objects that make interesting noises.

“Throughout the sessions that we attended I saw my son’s confidence and ability to engage with the activities increase. It was brilliant seeing him be part of creating something and having the chance to explore in his own time and way.”

Parent Quote

Want to get involved?

Voyagers for children in reception and primary children up to Year 6: Wednesdays, 4.20 pm to 5 pm at Edith Neville Primary School (From January 2025); £66.70 per term (a 50% subsidy is available for children eligible for free school meals)

It is essential every child brings one supporting adult with them.