Primary school pupils across Guernsey will benefit from enhanced music education, thanks to the delivery of new glockenspiels to classrooms across the island. The initiative, supported by local sponsor ZEDRA, provides a significant boost to primary music education, ensuring all children can engage with high-quality tuned percussion instruments as part of their learning.
Glockenspiels are a key resource in primary music education, allowing children to explore melody, rhythm and composition in a hands-on, accessible way. Their clear tones help young learners understand pitch and harmony, as well as generally improving memory and co-ordination, making them a feature in classrooms worldwide.
The provision of new whole-class sets of glockenspiels in every States primary school, as well as a set of African drums, will ensure that access to quality instruments and resources continues to be a staple of the States-maintained schools’ music education.
Tim Wright, Head of Guernsey Music Service, said: “Guernsey has a proud tradition of supporting music in schools, and ZEDRA’s contribution supports this tradition by strengthening the foundation of early musical learning in schools. This is a real investment in Guernsey’s musical future, with the glockenspiels enhancing curriculum delivery and giving every child the chance to explore music actively, collaboratively and creatively.”
Elaine Kennedy, Managing Director of ZEDRA, said: “ZEDRA is proud to support the donation of glockenspiels to all primary schools as part of our commitment to music education development on the island, and in all the jurisdictions where we operate. We are delighted to continue our support and work with the Guernsey Music Service and look forward to partnering with them for future events and activities.”
Sophie Roughsedge, Head of Education Operations, said: “This project underlines a wider commitment to nurturing the whole child in their education, including recognising the vital role music plays in supporting wellbeing, academic development and personal expression. It directly supports our Education Strategy’s aim of delivering high-quality education across our schools, and forms one part of a wide range of work by Education over the past year to ensure that children have equal access to the resources that will enable them to learn and thrive.”
The images were taken at St Martin’s School with Mrs Sarah Dempster and her class using the new instruments.