A new competition, Dare to Dream, has been launched by Education Scotland in association with the Artist Development Academy (ADA), to unearth talented song writers and performers from schools across Scotland to write, produce and perform their own song in aid of Children in Need.

The two part competition, which is open to both primary and secondary school pupils, gives secondary school pupils the opportunity to write their own original song, while primary schools pupils will be able to enter a competition for the best song performance. Those entering will receive free specialist song writing and performance tutorials as well as career advice through Q&A sessions from music industry professionals James McKay and Martin Walker from ADA. The tutorials will be available every Thursday via the Glow site, starting on 12th November 2015.

Once all entries have been received they will be whittled down to 10 songs that will be published on the Dare to Dream blog. The songs will then be open to a public vote, with voting closing on 17th January 2016 and the winner announced the following day. The winner will then work with ADA to discuss production and develop two or three different versions of their winning song by 18th March 2016.

Primary school pupils will also be able to get in on the action to enter a competition to find the best performers. The competition opens on 22nd April with all entries submitted by 10th June. The top 10 performances will then be published online and open to a public vote, with voting closing on 19th June and the winner announced on 20th June.

The winning song writers and performers will collaborate to record and release a single and music video to raise money for Children in Need 2016. The winners will take part in live national performances as well as perform at next year’s Scottish Learning Festival in September.

Ron Cowie, Senior Education Officer at Education Scotland said: “The ‘Dare to Dream’ competition is an unique chance for young people in Scotland to showcase their creative talent. This competition provides fantastic opportunities for budding song writers to develop their song writing skills. Through the Glow, they will be inspired by song writing experts from the music industry.

“By taking part in ‘Dare to Dream’, young people will be able to use their imagination and creativity to compose their own song for Children in Need. At the same time, they will find out about the wealth of opportunity in the music business. This is a great way to harness young people’s enthusiasm and love of music to support Children in Need.”

James McKay and Martin Walker from ADA, said: “We’re really excited to be working with Education Scotland to create and develop the next Children in Need single with the help of the talented pupils in schools across Scotland. The competition is a great way for children and young people to express their musical and creative talents whether they are writers or performers. At the same time they can take advantage of our industry knowledge and expertise while supporting such a worthy charity. I mean, how cool would it be to say you’ve had a number one charity single while you were still in school!”

Pupils taking part in the competition have also been asked to create learning logs to document their learning throughout the competition. James and Martin will be commenting on the learning logs to help advise pupils on their progress. Information on setting up a learning log is available on the Glow site in Office 365. http://tinyurl.com/Dare-II-Dream which will require Glow login details to access.

• Entrants can consist of individuals, groups or whole classes but there must be a lead teacher.
• Song writing tutorials for secondary school pupils will be available each Thursday at 10 am from 12th Nov until 11th Dec 2015.
• Performance tutorials for primary school pupils will be available each Thursday at 10 am from 22nd April until 27th May 2016.
• Schools can sign up to and register to take part in the tutorials http://tinyurl.com/Dare-II-Dream