ABC Classic FM and Music. Play for Life announce the NT winner of the 2006 Flame Awards

Alice Springs Steiner School has won the NT section in the national FLAME Awards for its imaginative and inclusive music program which reaches far beyond the school gate.

The Flame Awards are run in association with the Music Council of Australia’s ‘Music. Play for Life’ campaign. Inaugurated last year, they are open to all primary and high schools, government and independent. The theme for this year’s awards was Community Connections.

Alice Springs Steiner School was one of over 30 schools selected as finalists in the national scheme. The national winner will be named later this week.

“There is great depth and diversity of musical activities at Alice Springs Steiner School,” said ABC Classic FM Manager, John Crawford, a member of the national judging panel. “The school takes an inclusive approach to its music program and uses it to build connections within and beyond the classroom. For example, students in year 3 share songs in English and local languages with an Aboriginal community outside Alice Springs when they travel to the bush school, or when the bush students visit.”

“The school’s music program connects families, teachers and friends across age and cultural boundaries,” said the Music Council of Australia’s Dr Richard Letts. “We were impressed by the music teacher’s philosophy that ‘no one is not a musician, so no one is left out of music making.’ That’s a great way to ensure that all the kids are engaged.”

“For many students in our school, it comes naturally to call upon music to celebrate and connect,” says Jane Leonard, a parent at the school and a member of the group who made the school’s FLAME Award submission. Ms Leonard commended the school’s strings teacher, Jane Coleman, for her drive to involve students from other schools, parents and local musicians in the Alice Springs Steiner School’s music program. “It encourages a sense of possibility for the children – if someone’s mum can be a muso, then surely anyone can?!”

As the FLAME Awards NT Winner, Alice Springs Steiner School will receive $1,000 to spend on musical equipment, along with a selection of music CDs and magazine subscriptions.

Other State and Territory Winners of the 2006 Flame Awards are: Murrumburrah Public School (NSW), Lyneham High School (ACT), Tatachilla Lutheran College (SA), Kingaroy State High School (QLD), King Island District High School (TAS), Vermont Primary School (VIC), and Glencoe Primary School (WA).

For more information on the 2006 Flame Awards go to www.abc.net.au/classic/flame

ENDS

Music. Play for Life is the Music Council of Australia's national campaign to encourage more music making in schools and communities. For more information about the Flame Awards contact Annie Page 0412 440 084 page.annie@abc.net.au or Tina Broad 0439 022 257 tina.mpfl@mca.org.au

posted by alicesteiner # 7:43 PM