Perrie Young wants to make sure our children are in good voice.

His company SongPlanet has launched afterschool clubs in four Jewish primary schools in London this term, where children are encouraged not simply to sing but to produce their own songs.

“Kids may learn piano or guitar or how to sing in school,” he said, “But they have not been creative.

“At our sessions, kids get to write an original song of their choice. They decide what the content will be, and we’ll help them with the music and the melody.”

And he is also working on plans to stage a song contest for Jewish schools next year.

Mr Young, who has worked in media sales, has long had a passion for music. The former Carmel College student was in a boy band but had to set aside any ambitions for stardom. “Jewish parents don’t want you to go on the dole and be a musician,” he said.

A few years ago he started Studio Song which invites companies to  bring their employees to write and record their own song in a studio. “It’s a team-building event,” he explained
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At SongPlanet sessions, children begin with warm-up vocal exercises. “Then before they get down to the nitty-gritty of writing their own song, we ask them to sing or speak a song — it could be something like Happy Birthday — but in a way that has never been done before.”

The school clubs, he believes, can help children with “their confidence, self-esteem and creativity”.

For the planned song contest, he wants to attract entries from schools rather than individual children — a kind of schools’ Jewrovision. No date has been set but next autumn is likely. “It will definitely happen,” he pledged.