Ayrshire school release Christmas song with thanks to former music classmate of Ed Sheeran

GRANT PATERSON, from Prestwick, knew since he was a teenager that he wanted to be a teacher one day.

But he was also a talented singer-songwriter and he found himself going down that path after he left school.

The Ayrshire man won a place at the prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music in Surrey, where one of his classmates was future international star, Ed Sheeran.

After graduating, Grant wrote for other musicians and recorded vocals for various tracks, but his one true passion was still to be a teacher.

So he decided to return to Scotland and enrolled in a post-graduate course in primary teaching.

During his placement with a primary one class, he did a music project with the youngsters where they got to record a song.

It worked out well, so when he started his probationary year at Kincaidston Primary in Ayr in August, he mentioned the possibility of doing similar but involving the entire school this time.

It was decided that the pupils would write, record, produce and sell a Christmas single to raise funds.

The first thing that had to be done was come up with lyrics, so the younger classes contributed key words while the older children came up with stories and rhyming phrases.

Grant took all of the ideas away one weekend and came up with a melody and music on his guitar to accompany them.

The song, At Christmas Time, was the result.

The next thing to do was record it, so the 30-year-old brought all of his recording equipment in to Kincaidston and had each class perform their parts.

Primaries one to four did the first verse, the school choir performed the chorus and the second verse was recorded by primaries five to seven.

Each class also took responsibility for a different part of post-production, whether it was burning CDs, designing the artwork or advertising.

It’s been hard work but the results are worth it.

The original run of CDs sold out and now the single has been made available on iTunes – just in time for the race to be Christmas No. 1.

Little did Grant know when he left full-time music behind to become a teacher that his first classroom project could lead to a Christmas single success story.