Cobar Barnardos staff members Zanette Clements and Amanda Jeffery have this term been working with Year 8 students at Cobar High School on the Drumbeat Program.
Barnardos Australia works to build relationships between children, young people, their families and the community.
The Drumbeat Program (which stands for Discovering Relationships Using Music, Beliefs, Emotions, Attitudes & Thoughts) aims to improve participants’ self-esteem, explore connections between making music within a group and to assist group members in developing healthy relationships.
During the sessions students were introduced to five core learning strategies: drum songs; playing rhythm based games; conversations; improvisation; and performance.
Within each of these strategies they were able to develop a variety of skills.
The program offered students teamwork through shared experience and they explored the concept of peer pressure, effective communication and dealing with individual emotions.
Students also got an insight into key relationship issues and the different relationships that exist in real life.
The program promoted self-belief, creativity and flexibility in handling change within their lives and helped students to recognise their achievements and their new potential to manage life.
Through playing the drums, group discussions and mind mapping of the students’ ideas on teamwork, emotions, communities and relationships the students were able to develop a new range of skills.
Zanette and Amanda said all of the Year 8 students who participated showed great enthusiasm across all components of the program.
