Pupils at a west Norfolk school hope to hit the top of the iTunes charts this week with a single they’ve recorded and produced themselves.

Pupils at Gaywood Community Primary School turned their attentions to the music business for a three-day project that involved recording the track using a mix of iPad apps and instruments, before releasing the single on iTunes this week.

The students worked alongside Neil Johnston, the owner of Store Van Music; a record label in Guildford that also works in music education.

Paul Shanks, head teacher at Gaywood Community Primary, said: “Store Van Music do not usually do this with schools and it was only through a chance telephone call that I had with Neil that led to a discussion about writing and producing a track for release. This was a truly fantastic opportunity; one we couldn’t miss out on and we’re all so excited.

“This once in a lifetime experience has really capture the imaginations of the children and is something they will treasure for many years to come. Recording and producing a single and releasing it on iTunes while still at school is something that very few people can say they have achieved.”

As well as incorporating many areas of the curriculum – maths to count the beat and measure the length of song and IT skills for recording the track, for example – the project also looks set to bring lasting benefits to the children and school. Any money made from sales of the song on iTunes will be reinvested back into the school.

Mr Shanks said: “As well as giving parents and people in our community the chance to listen to the track and see what we’ve been up to school, releasing our song on iTunes is giving us the chance to raise money to reinvest into the teaching and learning, especially around music technology to help to sustain the project in the long term.”

CLICK HERE to listen to audio interview.

Here’s the video of the song:

The song We Say can be downloaded from itunes.apple.com or amazon.co.uk.

Photo and Audio courtesy of Alan T Shearer.