From the beginning of the academic year Junior Jam have ran departmental competitions. Half term 1 saw our iMedia department selecting and submitting what was in their opinion the best Garageband project from every school they work with.
This half term it’s the music department's turn to join in the fun. As it was coming up to Christmas, we decided to have a Christmas singing competition. Every member of our music department recorded every class singing a Christmas song of their choosing, then submitted one recording to go forward into our competition. All of the music staff were very excited to start recording their classes and see what they could achieve.
We had some amazing entries! Myself and my assistant manager Tom were tasked with choosing the winner of the competition, although all of the office enjoyed listening to them. All of the classes sang with passion and confidence. Some included solos, some included harmonies and one was even sung in a different language. The feedback from our teachers was that the competition had created a real buzz in their lessons and around their school and the children were practising in their own time to make sure their song had the best chance.
We split the country into two sections, the Southern heat (West Midlands and down) and the Northern heat (East Midlands and up). This meant there was an equal division of our staff members giving everyone an equal chance of winning the prize. The winning school would receive a £25 Amazon voucher to use as they choose.
Winner of the Southern Heat: 
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Lewisham - their entry was submitted by Ruby who has been teaching with us since September. Ruby was thrilled for the Y6’s and their rendition of ‘Mary Did You Know’. The children used a mixture of strong, confident male and female voices in solos at the beginning, followed by a beautiful unison section with the rest of the class joining in for the remainder of the song.
Winner of the Northern Heat:
The Whartons Primary School in West Yorkshire - their entry was submitted by Florin who has been with Junior Jam since September. Florin was very proud of her submitted song as she chose a Y1 class. The Year 1’s sung ‘Away in a Manger’, and everyone in the office was very impressed with the confidence and accuracy of pitch that the Year 1’s sang with.
Both songs are avlaiable on our social media for every to listen to.
Enjoy!
Emily
Head of Music, Media and the Arts