Broadford Celebrates Black History Month 2025

What a joyous month it has been celebrating the impact of Black pioneers, creatives and world changers. This year's theme was 'Standing firm in power and pride' which was a powerful tribute to the resilience, strength and unwavering commitment to progress that defines the Black community across the globe.

The children experienced a guest speaker, Dr Grace Bello, who shared her journey to becoming a doctor and stirring up ambition in our children. She spoke about barriers and hammers to achieving your goals and had a session with some children who aspired to work in the field of science and medicine.

 "I could listen to Dr. Grace speak all day!" - Emmalee, Larch

During the month, there was a research and art project that allowed each year group to explore a Black Briton who had made significant impact in their field. These pieces were collated into a growing whole school History book filled with fantastic pieces of work.

This year, we also spent time discussing the power of voice and wrote poetry to convey this message.

Our third, seemingly annual, music video is out now!

Lines tailored to the hope for the future of each Broadford child were learnt and rapped to an instrumental called ' I Can' followed by dancing with Soul Train inspiration to 'Aint no stopping us now' by McFadden and Whitehead.

The children and class videographers (the teachers) have outdone themselves. Enjoy!

FREE Music Technology After School Clubs

Ever fancied yourself as a music producer or video game designer? Would you love to hear your tunes on your favourite Xbox or Playstation game? Do you love making and listening to music? If so, then this post is just for you!

Conductive Music are running some After School Clubs starting on Monday 18th January. 

There are 2 clubs available, and the best part...they are completely FREE for you to join!

These are available for children in Years 4, 5 and 6.

Please see below for details of the available clubs:

Music Technology After School Club

Learn how to make music online, from the comfort of your own home! You should be a true music lover.

You will create music using a free music software and learn the basics of music technology. You'll make your own beats, add a melody and sound effects, record lyrics and mix your song like a professional music producer.

This club comprises of 8 sessions over 4 weeks and will run on a Monday and Wednesday evening from 4pm - 5pm, from Monday 18th January to Wednesday 10th February.

Please follow the link below for full details of the club, the equipment you need and to register:

Music Technology After School Club

Musical Video Games School

Learn how to make your own video game and the music to go with it! You should be passionate about music and video games.

The club will take you through the basics of block-based coding to create your own musical video game. You will be encouraged to use the coding skills you learn in a creative way.

This club comprises of 8 sessions over 4 weeks and will run on a Tuesday and Thursday evening from 4pm - 5pm, from Tuesday 19th January to Thursday 11th February.

Please follow the link below for full details of the club, the equipment you need and to register:

Musical Video Games School

These offer a fantastic opportunity for children to explore creating music digitally and to improve their coding skills also. 

If your child registers and takes part, please send an email to year56@broadford.havering.sch.uk to let us know! As the children work through the sessions, we aim to set up a forum for them to share their work with each other and their classmates.

Year 5 - Romford Drum & Trumpet corps

Wow!


This week, we were joined by the Romford drum and trumpet corps. Each child got a chance to try an instrument and try on the uniforms (as shown in the images below). There were a collection of horns, trumpets, flutes and drums to choose from, with members of the marching band there to offer advice about the instruments. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience with some members of the year group actually attending one of their sessions and joining the youth marching band.


Miss Daly and Miss Mullan were very impressed by the behaviour of the children in the sessions and wanted to say thank you to the Romford Drum and Trumpet corps for visiting Broadford Primary School.

Year 6 Try Some Instruments

The children across year 6 were visited by the Romford Drum and Trumpet Corp. The children had the opportunity to try a range of instruments, all which could be found in a marching band. Horns, trumpets and drums, the children enjoyed experiencing first hand how the instruments worked and the arrangement of different sounds which could be made. If that wasn't enough, the children were able to try on official Romford Drum and Trumpet Corp uniform.

With their resourceful skills at the ready, all 90 children from Year 6 were taught how to march, including the very tricky turn whilst staying in perfect formation. The children had to assess the situation quickly to identify when they needed to slow down or speed up.

I got to take charge of the marching; it was very tricky at first but once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed the experience. Daniel, Larch Class.

Year 5 and 6 LSO Trip

We believe in providing opportunities for pupils that widens their experiences.   Year 6 pupils were fortunate enough to be invited to an interactive interpretation of 'The Firebird' by the London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican Centre in London.

Classical music and musicians may not play a heavy part in an average day for a 10/11 year old, so it was fascinating to see their amazement at the variety of instruments, the intricate conducting and the impressive collaboration the musicians demonstrated.

My favourite instrument was the harp because it sounded so magical and calming.
Peiyce Egan, Redwood

It has really inspired me to play an instrument. Maybe I should take up the violin!
Evan Andrews

We listened to the orchestra and observed how they changed pitch and tempo as well as participated in using hand signals to complement the mood of the music. We also sang 'The Deal' which we have been learning in class!

To finish off a brilliant day, on the way home, the children made the school proud by helping someone in need by carrying shopping up the stairs at Gidea Park. Well done!

'Wonderland' performed by The London Symphony Orchestra

We believe in providing opportunities for pupils that widens their experiences.   Year 5 pupils were fortunate enough to be invited to a magical interpretation of 'Wonderland' by the LSO at The Barbican Centre in London.

Classical music and musicians may not play a heavy part in an average day for a 9 year old, so it was fascinating to see their amazement at how lots of people, playing 'lots of different instruments could make such an awesome sound!' Athenkosi, Maple

New experiences and knowledge:

I loved 'Dance of the Paper Umbrella' by Elena Kats-Chernin.  I could listen to it again and again! Holly Turner

"When a musician plucks the strings of their violin, it's called pizzicato."  Jack Silva, Elm

"Harps and pianos are grouped with the percussion instruments, I thought they would be with the strings."  Emma Bloy, Maple

"The sound of a celesta is magical!  In 'Sugar Plum Fairy' and the Harry Potter piece you could really feel the magic because of the celesta."  Ruby, Maple 

Year 6 Performance

Year 6 Parents:

You are cordially invited to attend the performance of Macbeth, written and produced by Years 5 and 6. The show will be on Thursday 17th July 2014 at 2pm. It's sure to be a Shakespearean extravaganza! 

Brittons Academy Primary Tour

This afternoon years 5 and 6 were the audience to Brittons Academy. The Brittons students, who are studying for their BTec in Music, had to arrange, organise and put on a performance to an audience. A fantastic array of music was performed including singing, samba and guitar playing. Our Years 5 and 6 children were certainly inspired to learn some instruments themselves. A big thanks to Miss Johnson and her Brittons students. Should you be interested in music tuition for your child, please see Miss Reynolds.

Grand Union Orchestra Visit

The children in years 1 to 6 were very fortunate to have a special visit yesterday from Claude and his musical orchestra. Claude, originally from South Africa, is a talented professional musician. He was joined by friends from Chile, North America and more locally, Havering College. Broadford children were treated to a special assembly where the orchestra played songs from their home countries and also Brazil and Portugal. They also showed a range of instruments that the children had never seen before including the Cajon (box). 

Claude and his team will be back at Broadford in a few weeks to work with children in Maple class on an exciting percussion project... Stay tuned!