South-East region
“Music for a collaborative, joyful and inclusive School”.
Apprentis d’Auteuil’s Notre-Dame de Lourdes school in Civrieux-d’Azergues (69), organised music lessons to all pupils and proposed participation in a choir for volunteers during the 2023-2024 school year. The “Music for a collaborative, joyful and inclusive School” project involved 197 pupils, from pre-school to 5th grade, with the support of Marina Paglieri, music teacher, and Florent Deboeuf, school teacher.
Project supported by the Fondation Foujita.
A project for children
The Notre-Dame de Lourdes school admits pupils with a variety of cognitive profiles, including many with special educational needs: autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit with or without hyperactivity, dys disorders, high potential… The aim of the project is to develop cooperation, the pupils’ cognitive functions, self-confidence and well-being, in the service of success for all, and more particularly for young people with special educational needs.
Musical practice and choral singing workshops are also tools for promoting mental well-being – by working to reduce stress and anxiety – and reconciling young people with school and learning.
These workshops are particularly relevant to the school’s commitment to the ECHO* educational innovation program, which aims to prevent the most disadvantaged students from failing at school.
A project rooted in children’s daily lives
All the pupils – 3 preschool classes and 5 primary classes – take part in music workshops led by Marina Paglieri.
The inclusion of the workshop in the students’ timetable establishes a weekly appointment with the teacher. The four-fold structure of the music education program – Singing and performing; Listening, comparing and commenting; Exploring, imagining, creating and expressing emotions; Sharing, exchanging and arguing – encourages the students’ involvement, while enriching their musical culture and creative spirit. Over the course of the sessions, for example, students discovered instrument families using real instruments. They were also able to dance and listen to a variety of music – an opportunity to enrich their tastes and discover different cultures – and work on musical language: how can we make ourselves understood by others through music?
“A resourceful school, with a committed teaching team that actively supported the project and my teaching.The students have expressed amazement and satisfaction at being able to touch and practice so many real instruments such as violins, cellos, guitar, ukulele, keyboard, various percussion instruments including drums.They are very enthusiastic when they meet me outside the sessions."
Singing is also a great way to build self-confidence and self-awareness! Working on songs in French, or even in a foreign language, helps pupils to make progress in terms of comprehension, syntax, vocabulary and diction. At the end of the sessions, the 20 pupils in 3rd and 4th grades gave a concert in the village church and made a recording with a local radio station.
“Seeing the children having fun and communicating it on the day of the performance is the most motivating and gratifying! I really enjoyed and discovered the children in a different way, as they enthusiastically suggested gestures for the choreography in particular.”
The various public performances organized at the school and in the village church throughout the school year were an opportunity to showcase the youngsters and their work to a wide audience.These collective workshops enabled the children to :
- work on their stress management, and in particular find an emotional balance
- strengthen their sense of belonging, both group identity and social inclusion
- improve the basis for collaboration and openness to others
- test and develop different modes of expression while becoming aware of their strengths
Have a look at the booklet to discover the workshop in photos and video!
