Johnstone school first ever in Scotland to earn gold Kitemark award for music

St Anthony’s Primary School in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, has become the first school in Scotland to achieve a gold Kitemark award for music.

Given to the school by We Make Music Scotland as part of the We Make Music Awards and the Music Education Partnership Group (MEPG) Scotland network, the We Make Music Kitemark for Schools (Gold Level) celebrates the musical achievements of pupils and the commitment by staff and parents to encourage everyone to take part in and learn through music.

Pupils in the Johnstone school are encouraged to take up music and singing at a level that suits them, such as being part of a choir, playing instruments, singing along with classmates and performing on stage in concerts and stage shows.

The school has always made music and singing a focus and last year became the first school outside of the US to perform Frozen, supported by Scottish Opera and Disney.

Head teacher Jacqui McBurnie said: “I am so proud and delighted that all the hard work and determination to deliver a high quality musically experience for our children, along with the passion for music that exists in our school, has been recognised with us receiving this award.”

John Wallace CBE, MEPG convener from We Make Music Scotland, added: “St Anthony’s is an amazing school. How many schools would you go into to find the P1 teacher with a saxophone slung around his neck, and the P7 teacher strumming a guitar? The commitment of its headteacher, teachers, support staff, children, and parents (who played with the children in the orchestra) to a rich quality, holistic learning environment is life-affirming and is an example to us all. After experiencing their music making, I genuinely feel we should up their gold award to platinum!”

Neil Millar, senior education officer for learning, teaching and assessment (expressive arts, culture and creativity) at Education Scotland, added: “I am delighted to support the awarding of Scotland’s first-ever Gold Kitemark Music award to St Anthony’s Primary School. It’s clear the significant impact Music and the Expressive Arts makes on the pupils and staff; it permeates the culture and ethos which is great to see. As a result, the pupils are articulate, confident and have a passion for their learning, which is having an impact across other areas of the curriculum such as Literacy. On behalf of Education Scotland, I offer my congratulations to all the staff and pupils in achieving this award: it is richly deserved.”