All the school’s students had the opportunity to head down to ‘The Pit’ in the basement of St James to enjoy live performances, varied music, and sensory experiences in a low-pressure environment.
‘The whole school is coming in different groups, so when we had the children with more sensory needs, we had some more calming tunes playing, and then later we’ve had the lights and a little bit of drum and bass, and we’ll have live bands playing for the Year 7s,’ said Le Murier music teacher Claire Ashton.
‘This is an amazing experience for our students because quite a lot of them don’t really have access to experiences like this.
'It’s an enriching experience, a community building experience, and it helps them and their families know that there are facilities like this available.’
Miss Ashton added that practising becoming accustomed to new and varied environments also helped to build independence and grant a sense of autonomy.
For the students, though, the joy was largely found in living in the moment with the music, light, and movement.
‘It’s good – I feel excited,’ said 16-year old Le Murier student Al Jones, who named the live singing as his favourite part of the experience.
The school was granted access to facilities at St James free of charge, after Miss Ashton contacted the St James Foundation to see if any such thing would be possible.
‘St James has just been amazing,’ she said. 'They’ve really pulled out all the stops for us.’