Responding to Covid-19.

Trelya adapted quickly to Covid-19 and worked with families immediately to ensure potential barriers to support were addressed as a matter of urgency. Following the temporary closure of our specialist OFSTED registered nursery we have adjusted our activities as part of the Covid response by temporarily transitioning all our work to online delivery - predominantly video calling but also using social media platforms, text, email and regular phone calls. One of Trelya's most unique characteristics is our long term relationships with families. These relationships mean that those we work with trust Trelya workers and know them well enough to push themselves out of their comfort zone to access support via video call and phone calls. Our entire Trelya team is now working from home delivering ongoing 1 to 1, activity, group and needs specific support via video calling, phone calls and social media. This even includes working with Early Years families to keep children's age appropriate development target on track!  All our work is specifically tailored to meet individual needs - from providing a musical instrument and lessons to a 17 year old to a scavenger hunt via video call for  6 year olds with very limited resources to weekly art, cooking and music activities for our Early Years families.

A core element of Trelya’s Covid Crisis response has been the continued delivery of our Youth Music provision. Our music lead Joe has been creating activity videos for the children and their families which are sent to them via mobile phones and social media. These videos have been critical in enabling them to continue to engage in and benefit from quality music activities on a regular basis and maintain engagement with the project. Sessions are supported by pre and post session calls from a Trelya support worker and have an 80% regular engagement rate. There sessions are designed for the 'groups' that would usually be led, and additional sessions / videos for individual children - tailored to their interests and PSED development levels and needs. Regular contact with parents and carers enables us to help offer support and intervention with managing any particular challenging emotions or behaviours that may be displayed due to the pressures of lockdown. For example: One Dad told us that his little girl was displaying a lot of 'physical anger' which he was finding very difficult to manage. So the music session she received was tailored to address this, helping her to understand and channel her frustration safely through very physical music making that used her body and voice. We have also extended our music offer to children who left our Early Years provision in September to transition to primary school. We recognised the importance of them receiving videos and activities from a familiar, safe and trusted face - offering stability and overt signs of care during these chaotic and isolating times. Thanks to Youth Music’s Emergency Fund all families engaged in Trelya’s music provision received ‘music packs’ via mail order. The packs contained an array of instruments including claves; wrist and ankle bells; maracas; talk tins and harmonicas and were designed to support families to engage in Trelya’s online music sessions.

Extract from a report by Joe - Trelya’s Music Lead:

It is fantastic that Trelya has purchased a bag of instruments for each child and sent them out to their houses. I have the same bag of instruments so they can see me using them and select the same ones and play along. The youngest have to use their observation skills to decide which instrument to select and can experiment with all the different sounds that can be made with each one. I try to vary the instruments I use and model the correct use. I ensure I use relevant vocabulary and name the instrument and describe the sound, volume and tempo.

This week Sally (Trelya’s Art’s Worker) and I co wrote a song all about a Kazoo (one of the instruments from the bag) -  adding a narrative around the instrument to bring in  a new dimension for the children and help bring the musical experience alive.  If feedback is positive and this approach proves successful we will create a song about each instrument in the bag.

I make sessions thematic, so the songs link together and there is a narrative. The aim is to heighten interest, increase awareness and enjoyment of different music genres and give children something to discuss with their family after the session. We are also aiming for the themes to inspire independent play and music making throughout the week. This week’s theme was Spooky & Scary. I discussed emotions between songs, how we can be resilient and how we can have fun with silly, scary, comic themes etc. In other sessions I have included peril, strength, resolution and relief as themes to support the development of essential life skills and emotional well being as children navigate the emotions of lockdown.

I also aim to engage children through sight as well as sound and dress the set for my videos. For the Spooky & Scary theme I hung cobwebs,  wore a witches hat and used small world toys as props. I  will often use a thematic backdrop, props, soft toys and a complimentary costume to expand each theme. I aim for these visual and tactile elements to support engagement of the more active children and support different learning styles within the group. As lockdown continues and some children are becoming more frustrated, I am opening up imaginative spaces through our music sessions. In upcoming sessions I’ll be asking open ended questions between songs and leaving gaps for them to talk with family members and reflect on the content. Many of the songs we explore discuss our emotions and how a particular event, scenario, sound or movement can make us feel. I hope to expand on this and provide more breathing space for the children within the sessions. I include songs with a visual element, descriptive words, and illustrative instrumentation so the pieces become more multi-sensory. Knowing the children have a wide selection of instruments at home really helps with this and I plan to encourage them to explore what’s around them visually in their spaces as well. For example creating songs about looking out of their windows and talking on the phone to remote friends and relatives to  explore how we can connect even though we are limited in our interactions.