Laureen Hodge, Curriculum Leader for Music and SENCO at North Cambridge Academy, is delighted to have won the Inspirational Educator Award in Music, for her significant contributions to music education at the school.
Since Laureen first started at North Cambridge Academy (NCA) in 2016, music has grown rapidly and become an exceptionally positive subject. Now five years on, Laureen has helped the academy to achieve success with 30% of students taking instrumental tuition in school, multiple ensembles, and a powerful school choir.
One of Laureen’s greatest successes to date has been with the school choir, where she has forged partnerships with the VOCES8 Foundation, Apollo5 and the Armonico Consort, to provide students with the opportunity to work and perform with outstanding professional vocal ensembles.
This has allowed students the chance to participate in the VOCES8 Young Leader Project, to develop their ensemble singing and leadership skills while learning to lead workshops for primary school children.
Students also recently had the opportunity to participate in the 2021 Armonico Consort project, where they performed ‘Carmina Burana’ at the Royal Albert Hall, with other collaborations including jazz band and music technology projects with Cambridgeshire Music.
Laureen’s work at NCA demonstrates how music education can be a transformative power in schools and has thanked the school for the support she has been provided with throughout her time there.
Laureen said: “It has been an honour to receive such a notable award. Thank you to VOCES8 for nominating me and to North Cambridge Academy for allowing me to nurture my passion for providing an enriching experience to our students.
“I love working in such a supportive learning environment and I am grateful for the many opportunities I’ve been given to follow my career ambitions and hone my craft.”
Samuel Fox, Principal of North Cambridge Academy, said: “I am extremely proud of Laureen for achieving this prestigious music award. Laureen is incredibly gifted in this area and deserves to be recognised for the time and commitment she shows our students when supporting their enthusiasm for music.
“Since Laureen joined the school, it’s been clear that her devotion to music education has made measurable differences to our students learning through enhancing our school offer – she is a hardworking and dedicated member of the team and I look forward to seeing more of the great things she goes on to achieve during her time at the school.”
Laureen’s approach was originally to start small with the school’s existing provision through creating interest and using this to build up to a whole-school approach. This involved starting a free Saturday School of activities, where Laureen established a Saturday School Music Ensemble, providing instruments and using experienced students to mentor beginners.
The success of this has also led Laureen to start a school orchestra where she built up demand from students, encouraged the school to provide string instruments and began providing violin, viola and cello lessons. As a result, there is now a string ensemble as well as a guitar and ukulele group, a keyboard ensemble, and a steel band at the school.
Laureen is also passionate about how the arts can support students with SEND. Her approach to supporting children with autism has benefited from her research interest in how creative collaboration can engage such students and improve their social skills. In one project, the children were engrossed in creating musical films based on primary level storybooks, for which the students composed the music. This experience led Laureen to become interested in working as a SENCO, completing the SENCO qualification last year, and in September 2021 becoming the school’s SENCO.