Drumming up a new friendship

DRUM to the beat . . . Kaskenmoor pupils perfect their newfound skills.

YOUNGSTERS are aiming to bring a taste of the Caribbean to the cold streets of Oldham.

Pupils at Kaskenmoor and South Chadderton schools will take up the steel drums as they get to know each other before their schools merge to form the Oasis Academy in September.

Kaskenmoor students have already started their weekly steel drumming classes after they applied for money from the Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF), and they will soon be joined by pupils from South Chadderton and the academy’s feeder primary schools.

Chris Layton, assistant head at Kaskenmoor, said: “The children absolutely love it. You can learn a couple of songs quite quickly and it sounds really impressive.

“They also enjoyed the process of applying for a grant from the Youth Opportunity Fund. They had to do a pitch in front of the YOF panel and they got a real buzz out of it. They did a lot of preparation and were really polished.”

The weekly classes have been running at Kaskenmoor since the beginning of the year and after Easter pupils from other schools will join in with the hope of creating an Oasis Academy steel band.

Chris added: “We recognised from the start that the merger would be a difficult process for everyone involved. There tends to be a natural rivalry between different schools and young people can be very shy with people they don’t know, so activities like this, where pupils from the different schools come together to try a new activity, are really important.

“We really want the steel band to be part of the community and are hoping that they will play at the school’s summer celebration.

“Eventually,g, we’re hoping for them to go out and do performances which will impress the wider community. They will be ambassadors for our new academy.”

Youth Opportunity Fund money is distributed to local authorities, who each have a YOF panel, consisting primarily of young people, who decide how the money is handed out.