Songstars: the Chapel Royal's pioneering choral programme

On a weekday morning at the end of June, countless groups of school children in differently-coloured polo shirts are flocking through the gates of Hampton Court Palace (HCP), marvelling at the scale and grandeur of the sprawling red-brick building on the bank of the Thames in south west London. But only four groups of children head directly for the Chapel Royal: Year 4 and 5 students from four primary schools in the neighbouring London Borough of Hounslow who have come to give a concert with the professional adult singers and boy choristers of the palace's prestigious choir.

The event marked the end of the first year of Songstars, a pioneering programme offering enhanced singing opportunities and support for children and their teachers from state schools within the surrounding area. The initiative came from the Choral Foundation of His Majesty's Chapel Royal, HCP, a charity set up in 2011 to ensure that future congregations and visitors would continue to experience the palace's rich musical heritage, which dates back five centuries. It has funded a meticulous overhaul of the chapel's historic organ; it supports the employment of its director of music Carl Jackson, assistant director of music Rufus Frowde and adult altos, tenors and basses; and it helps to ensure that the boy trebles, known as the Children of the Chapel Royal and drawn from a range of different state and independent schools, continue to receive a first-class musical education, not just through belonging to the choir but through bursaries that cover the cost of instrumental, singing or theory lessons.