'Incredible' Derry Sparks team end project with gift of music to St Paul's Primary School

A Derry school principal has paid tribute to the incredible contribution the pioneering Project Sparks music group from The Playtrail has made to developing the skills and confidence of pupils over recent years.
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Gareth Blackery, principal of St Paul’s Primary School was speaking as the now sadly ended Project Sparks team kindly donated Liberty Consortium’s instruments, which were used to teach children music at the Slievemore school.

Over the past six years, the unique Project Sparks brought together and developed gifted adults with a disability to become tutors and mentors. These young adults have since delivered training through music to over 2,000 school pupils across the north west, breaking down barriers, improving communication skills and delivering new ways of learning for all involved in the process. Due to lack of funding though the project has been wound up over recent weeks.

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However Mr Blackery and former Project Sparks manager Eamonn McCarron, who together with fellow project creator Erica Curran led Sparks to the heights it reached, are hopeful that its independently verified and widely recognised benefits can evolve into further projects if new funding streams can be found.

Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Aoibhe, Valan, James, Cillian and Eabha with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 009Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Aoibhe, Valan, James, Cillian and Eabha with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 009
Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Aoibhe, Valan, James, Cillian and Eabha with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 009

Mr Blackery said feedback from pupils and staff concurred with his own views that the programmes with Project Sparks had been groundbreaking.

"It made a huge impact on the children, a lasting impact. We have been involved for about four years. It started pre-Covid with our Primary 6 class, and it was a massive game changer for them. The way the leaders motivated the children was just outstanding.

"They inspired them to be young musicians, they learned to play instruments, to dance, to sing. They took part in lots of different sessions that developed their musical ability and also tied in really well with the curriculum and then they came together to perform.”

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Eamonn and Erica and the Sparks mentors had fostered in the St Paul’s pupils a belief that they could achieve if they weren’t afraid to take risks, Mr Blackery added.

Project Sparks mentors, who helped thousands of local schoolchildren develop music and life skills. (Photo: Stephen Latimer).Project Sparks mentors, who helped thousands of local schoolchildren develop music and life skills. (Photo: Stephen Latimer).
Project Sparks mentors, who helped thousands of local schoolchildren develop music and life skills. (Photo: Stephen Latimer).

Feedback from St Paul’s pupils spoke for itself. One child even stood up and told an auditorium that Project Sparks had changed how she saw herself, while positive changes were noted in and expressed by many other pupils.

As well as this, Eamonn and Erica also developed a programme for teachers to build their own confidence to deliver music lessons themselves, and when lockdown hit, they developed the music boxes project.

"The children were at home and we delivered the boxes directly to them at the doorstep,” Mr Blackery said, “Sparks delivered successful online whole-class music lessons over zoom.”

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After the lockdowns, St Paul’s secured Education Authority funding for a wellbeing project which provided a third class with the chance to work with Project Sparks and perform at the Playtrail outdoor auditorium.

Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Aoibhe, Cillian and Eabha with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 010Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Aoibhe, Cillian and Eabha with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 010
Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Aoibhe, Cillian and Eabha with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 010

Since then however Project Sparks has lost its core funding and the project leaders decided to donate the music boxes full of instruments to St Paul’s.

Expressing the school’s gratitude, Mr Blackery said: “The next stage is to ensure these are used. We now have a new music co-ordinator in the school, Caoimhe Fox, and Caoimhe will make sure the boxes are put to good use.

"Project Sparks may have ended but we would still like to be involved with them down the line in some shape or form.”

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All the leaders have various different disabilities but the whole ethos was that this shouldn’t be a barrier to learning or to succeeding in your field. Part of the project with St Paul’s centred on breaking down barriers, preconceptions and misconceptions about disability and ability.

Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with one of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 012Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with one of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 012
Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with one of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 012

Eamonn paid tribute to his Project Sparks partner Erica. “We came up with this idea together and Erica has been instrumental as a facilitator and co-developer of the whole notion of having disabled adults teach children."

Eamonn and Erica also run a music school called Leap Lessons, and many of the Project Sparks participants will come on board as students and, over time it is hoped, eventually become volunteers.

Eamonn said Sparks participants have since 2017 developed “an incredible sense of purpose and meaning so they could give back to the community”.

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"They recognised that there is a gap that needed to be bridged between children and disabled adults,” Eamonn said. “That is why they became so committed to the project. That gap existed in two ways, children of primary age tend to have limited access to the arts anyway. St Paul’s is unusual in that way in that they prioritise the arts.

"Placing them in a position of mentorship they were able to gain that sense of contribution to their community. It was a very challenging project for them, they had to role model the best traits, improve their communication skills, artistically they were put under real challenging scenarios. They were pushed at the edge of their abilities.”

And they managed to thrive. Prior to 2017, they felt disillusioned, bored even, and they also felt that the community had lower expectations of them, Eamonn said, until Sparks came along.

Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Valan and James with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 011Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Valan and James with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 011
Principal Gareth Blackery, and Eamonn McCarron, from Project Sparks, pictured with P7 pupils Valan and James with some of the musical instruments donated to St Paul’s Primary School, Slievemore on Tuesday last. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2310GS – 011

Independent academic studies and three research papers were carried out by experts from Ulster University looking at the impact on Sparks, centring on the self-efficacy of the Sparks mentors, on the expectations children have of disability, and the potential for music to be used as a medium to enrich children’s views of social diversity in general.

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"From an objective point of view, the results were pretty conclusive: the model worked,” Eamonn said. “There is plenty more potential within this model.”

Let’s hope it won’t be too long before we see a successful revival in some form of this unique, peerless and first class project.

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