Reay Primary School
Composers and Singers
All images on this page courtesy of Herbie Clarke and the school. This page also includes quotes from the children gathered from data collected after the project.
- CLASS Yr 2
- SCHOOL Reay Primary School, Hackford Road, London, England
- HONOURS In piano playing the class has two pupils with stickers, two who have gold medals and one who has passed his graded exams
- MINERVA SCIENTIFICA PROJECT Isabella’s Footsteps, July 2026
The Isabella’s Footsteps Project
On the project we learnt all about sea creatures and the different species of crustaceans, mainly Nephrops norgevicus and Homarus gammarus. We learnt facts about crustaceans, how to sign words to the songs, Isabella Gordon’s song ‘From Scotland to Japan‘, The Cherry Tree Song, and that Isabella Gordon was a marine biologist and the first woman to work at the Natural History Museum (NHM) full time.
- I liked hearing about Isabella and that she was born in Keith, Scotland and went to University in Aberdeen
- I am going to live in Aberdeen!
We loved singing Isabella’s Song “From Scotland to Japan”
We had a special tour around the Natural History Museum to find out more about Isabella and all the sea creatures they have there.
- I liked seeing all the coral
- We thought the blue whale skeleton and the crocodile scales were amazing
- Loved the sharks, crabs and starfish
- The giant squid on the ceiling was scarey
Composition
Title: “The Lobster Song by Yr 2 Reay Primary School“
Scientists: DR ISABELLA GORDON
Composers: Reay Primary School
Words by: the composers
Written in: July 2026
For: voices
Performed by: the composers
Recorded: 6th July 2026 at the Natural History Museum
Film by: Herbie Clarke with drawings by the composers.
The children worked with a team of musicians from Electric Voice Theatre and scientist Miranda Lowe C.B.E. The resulting song is made up of an array of their favourite facts about two of the species Isabella Gordon studied – Homarus gammarus (European lobsters) and Nephrops norvegicus (Norwegian lobster).
What we learnt about lobsters:
I liked learning facts!
- Its brain is in its neck
- Lobsters have exoskeletons
- They feel with their antennae
- They eat other crustaceans
- Cuttlefish and crayfish eat lobsters
- The have little tiny teeth in their claws
- They have 10 hairy legs – so a lobster is a decapod
- Nephrops norvegicus has a small nose over it’s eyes
Some of the pupils at NHM learning how to sign ‘pincers and crushers’ in BSL to use in their song.
It was funny that Frances called our singing circle a squircle –
like a square and a circle together
We loved singing The Cherry Tree Song!
We used these beautiful shells to bless the cherry trees in our school garden in honour of Isabella Gordon.
Education
This year in our classroom we have done a lot of STEM projects, eg:- learning all about the animal food chain; carrying out experiments with ice cubes to see how different sizes melted, researching what different types of fabrics are made of and learning about electricity.
For music we like to sing together a lot, and some play instruments too, like the piano (one of us worked out how to play The Cherry Tree Song on their piano at home!), drums, flute, recorder, ukelele, penny whistle and more!
Occupations
Almost all of us want to be scientists, half of us want to be musicians and we have some who’d like to be composers too!
Musical Highlights
The same morning the Electric Voice Theatre visited we performed 5 Arias from The Magic Flute by Mozart, and told the whole story of the opera for all the parents!
Did You Know?
- Star fish eat clams by putting their stomach inside the clam
- Lobsters have blue blood
- Lobsters are kept in alcohol at the museum
- They have a pincer and a crusher claw. If they are attacked and lose a bit of their claws they just grow them back
- Lobsters can eat sharks (when they’re dead!)
“The lobsters big black eyes were looking around.”
An Inspiring Woman
Isabella Gordon – Isabella is very interesting because she found things out that no-one else knew – new facts about crustaceans
Miranda Lowe – because she works at the National History Museum where Isabella worked.
I liked seeing a real life scientist!