St John Fisher Catholic Primary School, Blackbird Leys

Over ten weeks, the children at St John Fisher school have been working with musician Nick Cope to create the lyrics and music to their song inspired by their water footprint investigations.  Nick has been getting the children singing and experimenting with instruments as the children work towards their recording session at SAE studios. 

The group will become rock stars for a day as they have a morning in the studio with professional sound engineers before performing on the Ark.  The group are also rehearsing the Ark anthem, composed by Nick to capture the themes of the whole project and they, along with children from the other participating schools, will also be recording this at SAE to be played throughout the time the Ark is in situ outside the museum. 

Pupils taking part in a water relay race.

Following their first science workshop, the pupils at St John Fisher had been making a real effort to try and reduce their water consumption both at school and at home. The first change they had all made was to turn off the tap while they were brushing their teeth.

The second science workshop began with a discussion about other ways in which we use water, particularly in food and clothing. The class was amazed to discover 2,400 litres of water goes into making a hamburger, the equivalent of 30 baths of water, they used the internet to do some further research.

Katrina went on to teach the children about the water shortages in other parts of the world. She explained that in some places in the developing world every drop of water that is used has to be carried into the home (sometimes up to 20 litres a day) and so people are much more careful about how much water is wasted. To illustrate this point the pupils were split into groups to take part in a relay race in their playground, where instead of a baton they had to carry a container filled with 5 litres of water. They were all left with greater appreciation for the water that they can so easily access from their taps.

Pupils playing along with Nick Cope

The water song that Nick Cope is creating with the year 6 class at St John Fisher is certainly taking shape.  A number of the pupils are now able to play the chorus on guitar, while the rest of the class sing along with great enthusiasm.

The children had also taken their lyric writing homework very seriously as everyone contributed to writing the rap which will form part of the final song. The pupils who were initially timid in their first music workshop had now become confident performers, bubbling with excitement at the prospect of their performance on the Ark in June. There is even talk of a professional recording session… but more on that later as the workshops progress.

Pupils learning about water consumption.

Katrina started her science sessions by discussing with the year 6 class at St John Fisher where our water comes from. This led to a basic illustration of the water cycle. She then set about discovering how much water each of the pupils uses by getting them to think about all of their daily activities that involve the use of water.

The tricky part was quantifying how much water each of these activities uses and this called for an experiment! In small groups the children started to measure how much water came through the tap when left on for a set period. For example they estimated that it takes two minutes to brush your teeth - so if you leave the tap running for the entire time, how much water does this use? It soon became apparent that the class uses huge amounts of water on a daily basis.
 
At the end of the workshop, Katrina gave each of the pupils a water diary to take home to monitor their usage. They will be evaluating this data in their next science session, comparing it with how much water children use in other parts of the world and considering how they can work to reduce their consumption.

St John Fisher pupil playing guitar.

It certainly was a first for the year six pupils at St John Fisher School. A real pop star not only visiting their class but actually creating a song with them to perform publicly.

Nick Cope, the former front man of The Candyskins, was very impressed with the abundance of musical talent the class already showed. Clearly the guitar lessons a number of pupils had been taking were paying off. 

Although a little shy at first, the class was soon singing along to a number of recent chart toppers that everyone recognised. The class consists of not just great singers but a handful of budding rappers, all contributing their ideas for their very own class song about water, and how our supply of water is affected by climate change, a subject they will be following closely with Katrina Charles in their forthcoming science workshops.

By the end of this first session, the chorus was taking shape with lyrics and sound effects; even the teacher was starting to feel the groove!