Music Therapy at Haymerle School
Sarah Kong has been working as a Music Therapist at Haymerle School since 2007.
Sarah studied Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2003 and qualified in Neurologic Music Therapy in 2019.
Sarah Kong's Explanation of Music Therapy
About Music Therapy at Haymerle School
- Making connections, building resilience, and enabling individuals to flourish and reach their full potential is the key focus of Sarah’s work.
- The school offers music therapy to pupils on a weekly basis.
- Music therapy is a beneficial intervention that supports both communication and emotional expression.
- Music therapy provides children with a positive space to interact and engage, improving their learning experience.
- Improvised music allows flexibility in responding to a child’s vocalisations, body movements, and eye contact.
- It helps build a trusting therapeutic relationship, offering consistency and stability.
Music Therapy and Education Plans
Music therapy is closely linked to each pupil’s EHC Plans and IEPs, particularly focusing on:
- Social and Emotional Wellbeing
- Mental Health
- Interaction and Communication
For more information, visit the British Association for Music Therapy. Alternatively, contact the school directly for further inquiries.
Music Therapy at Haymerle School
Building Blocks for Resilience Through Music Therapy
Interactive Music Therapy Programme that offers parents and teachers resources and ideas to build and sustain resilience at a time when perseverance, positivity, and stability have been challenged.
Recording and observation monitoring tracks pupil progress and development.
Building resilience can enable individuals to establish coping strategies and skills to manage difficult periods of their lives, such as during lockdown or in response to a bereavement. Providing activities that encourage thinking about each category of resilience—such as connection, hope, and positivity—can be added to a pupil or child’s resilience toolbox.
Resilience Focus Areas:
- Connection
- Self-Discovery
- Hope
- Positivity
- Self-Care
- Acceptance
- Perspective
Parents and teachers can use the ‘Building Blocks for Resilience through Music Therapy’ programme to strengthen knowledge and initiate support techniques for emotional growth and resilience. For pupils and children, this might involve an increase in tolerance and creating a means to accept and understand changes in circumstances.
Explore the activities with your pupil or child and track their responses on a weekly basis using the recording sheets. Progress can be logged and reviewed at the end of the 7-week block. Every activity is planned to reflect an element of challenge and progress to enable pupils to reach their full potential.
Please download the Building Blocks for Resilience activities here:
Building Blocks for Resilience
Enhancing Engagement Through Music Therapy
Interactive Music Therapy Programme that offers parents and teachers resources and ideas to motivate and encourage increased levels of meaningful interaction and engagement.
Recording and observation monitoring tracks pupil progress and development.
Promoting engagement is a key element in building resilience and relationships for pupils and children on the Autistic Spectrum. By offering activities that are based around initiation, persistence, and investigation, this programme can provide grounding to develop skills to interact with others at a pace and level that feels appropriate for each individual pupil and child.
Engagement Focus Areas:
- Responsiveness
- Discovery
- Curiosity
- Anticipation
- Persistence
- Initiation
- Investigation
Parents and teachers can use the ‘Enhancing Engagement through Music Therapy’ programme to open up possibilities of improved positive response and interaction. During this time of uncertainty, it is important that pupils and children have the chance to grow and strengthen in new and creative ways, building their resilience and emotional well-being.
Explore the activities with your pupil or child and track their responses on a weekly basis using the recording sheets. Progress can be logged and reviewed at the end of the 7-week block. Every activity is planned to reflect an element of challenge and progress to enable pupils to reach their full potential.
Enhancing Engagement through Music Therapy
Engagement Focus Activities
Bouncing Back Through Music Therapy
Interactive Music Therapy Programme that offers parents and teachers resources and ideas to manage the transition back to school in a fun, engaging, practical, and effective way.
Recording and observation monitoring tracks pupil progress and development.
It is imperative that children are supported in their transition back to school. ‘Bouncing Back through Music Therapy’ links in with the Recovery Curriculum and focuses on the key areas of Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing.
By boosting confidence, self-esteem, and security, this can enable individuals to begin to re-engage in school life and better access their learning.
Recovery Focus Areas:
- Re-establish
- Reconnect
- Rebuild
- Persistence
- Resilience
- Rediscover
- Recreate
Parents and teachers can use the ‘Bouncing Back through Music Therapy’ programme to re-establish relationships with pupils and children, to reconnect after a period of uncertainty, to rebuild resilience in managing levels of change, and to understand a new ‘normal.’ This programme also offers a creative avenue to rediscover and recreate through persistence and unconditional support.
Explore the activities with your pupil or child and track their responses on a weekly basis using the recording sheets. Progress can be logged and reviewed at the end of the 6-week block. Every activity is planned to reflect an element of challenge and progress to enable pupils to reach their full potential.
Bouncing Back Through Music Therapy