When Words Fail, Music Speaks

School pupils with complex educational needs take part in an extraordinary musical collaboration with professional musicians.

Producer Peter Curran and mainstream schoolteacher Blanche Girouard capture the process - as William Carslake and Patrick Stockbridge help the pupils to create and perform an original show together.

They have just 48 hours beginning from scratch, before a performance in front of the whole school. We hear the thoughts and reactions of pupils and composers as they put their shoulders to the task.

A musical is developed about food, the senses, and being lost in the jungle. It's a noisy, funny and inspirational process.

It’s also a powerful illustration of the skills and effort by dedicated teachers and carers at the school in Telford, as they shape classes and creative experiences around the changing, often complex needs of each young person in their care.

Producer: Peter Curran

A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2017.