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Rachel Oliphant from Redcar and Cleveland Virtual School attended a Blue Cabin training day all about early years music-making. Here, she shares a little bit about what she learnt, and how music can support care-experienced children’s relationships and development.
I’m quite new to working in early years and my initial knowledge about music-making was all based on the parent and toddler groups I attended with my own children.
You don’t always think about why you’re singing that particular song, or the skills that the babies and children can gain from music, so it was really interesting to understand more about that.
Carol Bowden, Katie Doherty and Lucy Ridley from Blue Cabin talked us through a typical early years music-making session, like the ones we’re now running in Redcar and Cleveland as part of the This is the Place project.
They explained the reasons behind choosing each song. For example, by starting each session with the ‘hello song’, we welcome everyone to the space, engage with each child and make sure people feel welcome and that they own a piece of that space. And repeating songs regularly really helps with language acquisition.
We learnt about the different actions and hand movements that link to key motor skills, and how music and singing can support children’s speech and language development and help them become ready for school.
Definitely. Part of my job is to attend the weekly This is the Place music-making sessions and I felt much more confident after this training. It gave me a 360 view of things – from the point of view of someone attending and from the point of view of the musicians.
I will also be able to use what I learnt when we’re completing personal education plans [a record of a child’s educational progress and a plan for their future] for early years children, which is a statutory document that every child in care has, including information about each child’s educational needs
I’ve been able to share what I learnt with my colleagues and it makes us more confident as practitioners. We have a deeper understanding of the benefits of music-making.
I’m able to promote our weekly This is the Place sessions with confidence and better explain to foster carers what the benefits to their children will be.
Our next practical guide to early years music-making is on Monday 22 September 2025 in Darlington.
