Alicia is an Associate Musician for the Aspire Trust and has developed some invaluable, imaginative and innovative programmes in the Early Years and Primary Schools.

She has run CPD days for teachers which have been received enthusiastically by all attendees. They appreciated the practical activities offered which could be developed in their classrooms and felt that the sessions gave them a lot of confidence in bringing music into other areas of the curriculum. A very insightful workshop that can bring some creativity back to my classroom was a typical response by many of the attendees.

She taught different ways of teaching different aspects of music which has led to teachers looking forward to going back to school to try out new ideas and approaches. The sessions provided a chance to recap on all the things that Alicia had covered in her sessions and to learn some new techniques. They found it particularly useful to put each activity into a different focus area. They especailly liked the refereneces to theory and research that supported the materials and activities. Meeting with teachers from others schools and LEA was also useful and interesting. One teacher realised as a result of the work with Alicia that ‘music is very important and must not be squeezed into a small space in the day.’

We were particularly pleased to be able to profile her work at this years Childrens Workforce Development Council national conference in London. Head teachers of participating schools reported that the CPD training on offer particularly helped their teachers set up opportunities for further creative development in the school by encouraging further singing and performing opportunities.

Dr Nick Owen
Director, Aspire Trust