Thomas Hickman 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 Year 3 Oak & Willow classes
  • SCHOOL Thomas Hickman Primary, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
  • HONOURS 6 of us have achieved Science certificates through school for working well in science lessons. One of us has performed a show at the local theatre and been part of the chorus.
  • MINERVA SCIENTIFICA PROJECT Voices for the Future: Miriam Rothschild 2022

We made drawings after the project of what we remembered

Scientific Connections

In our classroom we have been learning about:

  • We dissected an owl pellet to investigate what the owl had eaten and placed the tiny bones together to create the skeletons.
  • We learnt about the digestive system by putting mashed food through tights.
  • We made paper mache volcanoes and erupted them, discussing the scientific reaction between the baking powder and vinegar.

On the project we learnt:

  • That pesticides can make some animals poorly.
  • About food chains and that wildlife thrives in wild flower gardens.
  • Wild flower gardens are great at attracting bees and butterflies.

Compositions

Title: In Miriam’s Wildflower Garden
Scientist: MIRIAM ROTHSCHILD, ERIKA DE CASTRO
Composers: Year 3 Oak & Willow Classes, Thomas Hickman School
Words by: the composers
Written in: March 2022
For: Voices, piano, and sound effects
Performed by: the composers
Recorded: in the gardens of Waddesdon Manor, March 25th 2022
Film by: Herbie Clarke and the composers

This MEGASONG for Miriam Rothschild was created as part of the Voices for the Future: Miriam Rothschild project in collaboration with the Learning Team at Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury. The children worked with Erika De Castro and her colleagues, Glennis Julian (Zoology Department, University of Cambridge) and Billie Pike (Better Origin), exploring the entomology and ecology of Miriam’s Wildflower Garden; created drawings of the stories of their chosen insects to use in the film; created the music with electric voice theatre and Bucks Music Trust musicians, and even designed a wildlife area with Ed Turpin from Bucks Wildlife Trust for their school.

  • We felt really proud of our film
  • I felt like a star
  • We liked the man that recorded us, he was kind
  • I liked the lady that showed us the moths, that was really interesting
  • I liked seeing the maggots but they smelt really bad

Education

Mrs Saw is our class teacher. In school we have one music lesson and one singing assembly each week. Lots of us sing in the school choir and one of us sings at a performing arts club outside school.

Occupations

We want to be lots of things when we grow up including vets, police officers, doctors, nurses, mums, authors, ambulance drivers, bus / train drivers, footballers and actors. After the project lots of us also said we wanted to be singers!

Musical Highlights

On the Miriam Rothschild project we learnt about songwriting and that we could get ideas for lyrics from looking around us or based on a story. We learnt about putting lyrics to a tune. We enjoyed working with the musicians as we had not seen the instruments before.

Did You Know?

  • We were surprised that there was a photo of the Queen inside the Manor House and that she had planted a tree there.
  • We were surprised that there was a room inspired by Ancient Greece and we could identify many characters from Greek myths on the ceiling mural and in the rug.
  • I was surprised by the beautiful gardens and how neat the flower beds were.
  • It felt strange to sing for a real music video. I got the giggles when we were singing because I was nervous.

The people who worked with us on the project at Waddesdon Manor

An Inspiring Woman

Music: Frances M Lynch

  • We remembered Frances after the project and we loved working with her on zoom

Science: Miriam Rothschild, Erika De Castro and Billie Pike

  • Miriam Rothschild is inspiring because she used her money to help other people. She helped prisoners and refugees and she was already thinking of ways to look after animals.
  • Erika and Billie were inspiring because they were thinking of ways for people to eat insects instead of farm animals which is better for our planet.
Links
School website