Westminster: Chorister Outreach Programme

Westminster schoolchildren prepare to sing Salve Regina. Photograph by Nick Morrell, Westminster Cathedral Choir School

Primary school children in the diocese of Westminster are being invited to sing in the newly formed Westminster Diocesan Children's Choir, which rehearses every Saturday morning at Westminster Cathedral Choir School.

The Westminster Cathedral's Chorister Outreach Programme also offers specialist singing tuition to six primary schools within the archdiocese.

This initiative forms part of the government-sponsored Sing Up Programme, which was launched in 2007 with the ambitious but laudable aim of "wanting singing to be at the heart of every primary school".

The Chorister Outreach Programme, working in partnership with Sing Up, enables professional children's choirs to work creatively with primary school children in their local area.

Westminster Cathedral choristers visit the participating schools once a term to demonstrate and help children of their own age to sing. The schools also receive weekly tuition from a team of professional musicians from Westminster Cathedral and once a term all the schools meet together for an informal concert.

The Westminster Diocesan Children's Choir opens the cathedral music department's doors to all primary school children in the diocese wishing to sing and also is a way of allowing girls to sing in an otherwise all male environment! Rehearsals are on Saturday mornings throughout term time (10.30-12am). For more information please contact the Outreach Coordinator, Eileen McDade telephone 020 7798 9394 or email emcdade@choirschool.com.