Putting Music at the Heart of Hull 2019 – 2020 REPORT
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Putting Music at the Heart of Hull 2019 – 2020 REPORT Hull Music Service – putting music at the heart of Hull Each Local Authority Area has a Music Education Hub. The national funding for Music Education Hubs comes from the Department for Education and is administered by Arts Council England (ACE). Hull Music Service is the Lead Partner for Hull Music Hub and commits to delivering on 4 Core Roles and 3 Extension Roles: National Plan for Music Education Core Roles 1. Ensure that every child aged 5 to 18 has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument (other than voice) through whole-class ensemble teaching programmes for ideally a year (but for a minimum of a term) of weekly tuition on the same instrument 2. Provide opportunities to play in ensembles and to perform from an early stage 3. Ensure that clear progression routes are available and affordable to all young people 4. Develop a singing strategy to ensure that every pupil sings regularly and that choirs and other vocal ensembles are available in the area Extension Roles 1. Offer continuing professional development to school staff, particularly in supporting schools to deliver music in the curriculum 2. Provide an instrument loan service, with discounts or free provision for those on low incomes 3. Provide access to large-scale and/or high-quality music experiences for pupils, working with professional musicians and/or venues. This may include undertaking work to publicise the opportunities available to schools, parents/carers and students Hull City Council Corporate Plan At a local level, the Hull Music Hub appears strategically in the Hull City Council Corporate Plan 2018 – 2022. Section "Delivering Economic Growth and Inclusive Growth" "Support the Hull Music Hub and the Local Cultural Education Partnership to foster children's artistic talents creating new opportunities for young people.” There are six key strategic contributions Hull Music Service is making: 1. Invest to build funding capacity as well as cultural capital. The investment made by Hull City Council acts as a platform on which the Music Service can generate an annual budget of over £1.2 million and flourish. Funding comes from the LA, DfE/ACE, Schools, families, trusts and charities. This represents a significant return on the council’s continued investment. 2. Opportunity & Access. This report and data demonstrates that the City’s Music Service is working city wide, and with significant numbers of children and young people for whom there would be little or no opportunity to engage with high quality music making. The Hub structure of partners is enabling HMS to continue to develop an even greater reach. 3. Social Mobility and Raising Aspiration Attending a weekly ensemble or activity at the Albemarle, for many children and young people, is the first step to looking outside their immediate community and trying new things. Progression leads to more independence, new experiences, venues and opportunities. All of this translates into a strong preparation for study, training and the world of work 4. Resilience and well-being There is compelling research demonstrating that engaging in music can support a wide range of challenges that our children and young people face. Schools are increasingly looking at music led interventions to help achieve social and/or behavioural outcomes. 5. Academic Attainment The British Music Journal Research that tracked attainment of pupils through all key stages in Hampshire provided clear evidence that children and young people who learn a musical instrument achieve more highly irrespective of their starting point academically. Data analysis for Hull demonstrates this. (appendix 2) 6. 2017 legacy City of Culture brought a wealth of opportunity and experiences to the City and the focus in now building meaningful legacy. The commitment to a music service and Music Education Hub, providing ongoing access to high quality music-making is a clear education legacy of 2017 and should be celebrated as such. Hull Music Service 2019 – 2020 REPORT Lead Partner for Hull Music Hub The following report is based on the annual data return that all Lead Partners for Music Education Hubs provide to Arts Council England (ACE), as well as data collected and collated through Unique Pupil Numbers (UPNS) and Postcode data through the Insight Team. Introduction The 2019-20 Academic year was defined by the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020. It is important to remember therefore that the reporting of musical activity for this year begins with nearly half an academic year of “normal activity” and this report reflects that. The year promised much, with many new and exciting activities and opportunities for young people from across the City to engage with. Our first ever event at the Bonus Arena, just before lockdown was a good example of this. Multiple schools, engaged in our “Song for Hull” programme, performing to an audience of over 1000 alongside the award winning Hull Beats Bus, in a project funded by the Music Service, New Ground Housing and the Hull CCG. Little did we know what was just around the corner. The impact of COVID on musical opportunity will take longer to assess, but there are clear indications that there will have been a significant reduction in new learners during lockdown as well as bands, orchestras and ensembles being difficult to replicate online. However there have been significant successes. Schools have been outstanding partners to the Music Service and the Music Hub during lockdown. A significant amount of activity has been delivered due to the willingness of school to engage with us in different ways. This is testament to the high regard they hold our provision in and also the importance of our children and young people having access to high quality music provision in a lockdown. This in turn has been made possible by the creativity, ambition and hard work of the teachers employed by the music service. The quality and breadth of our online and face to face provision during lockdown, demonstrates what a highly committed team we have. As our attention turns to stabilisation and recover the team, once again, will be critical as we enter an extremely challenging phase for us all. We remain however, committed to “putting music at the heart of Hull.” Early Years Whilst not a specific Music Education Hub area (which is 5-18) Hull Music Service is committing to putting music at the heart of Hull across all age groups. Early Years is a key priority for us, particularly in support of the wider literacy and oracy strategies for the City. We successfully bid for £19K (February 2020) from Youth Music to run an 18 month project working in EYFS settings across the City. This project was developed through working with the Early Years team and built on work we have started to develop in CPD for EYFS staff and college students as well as workshops in settings. Due to the pandemic, this is on hold for now. We are working with the Early Years team to create resources for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. During the first lockdown, we contributed musical activities and songs for the home learning ideas that the Early Years team created. We are building on this with resources that directly support the monthly books for 2 year olds. We are now creating videos for families and settings with musical activities that support the books and develop both musical understanding and reinforce the sounds and words used in the stories. Digital Learning Provision Specific challenges faced during March-July 2020 in relation to developing / delivering digital learning provision, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a significant digital deficit in Hull. There are still a signifiacnt number of households across the city that do not have a suitable device to access online learning from schools. Thos resulted in the intial phase of online learning in summer 2020 being accessed by 25% of our usual numbers. However all of our 2024 small group / indiviual learners received Individual Learning Plans via Charanga. Sing for Hull was engaged with by whole classes within schools. The reahc of the programme per pupil is therefore considerably higher than what is possible to capture in views or interactions. The Music Service Team embraced digital learning. As we trade through schools, direct ocntact with families was a new challenge. Signinig up via Eventbrite worked and we have retianed this. There is no doubt that large numbers of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged families lost out during lockdown. The following digital provision / platforms have been in use by our Music Education Hub (MEH), throughout the academic year 2019/20 The following types of digital learning provision were offered by our MEH during March – July 2020. Digital Engagement The number of digital learning provisions produced / delivered during this period and the number of children & young people engaged. For online sharings / streamings of performance (eg via YouTube), there are also the number of interactions where known. Hull Music Hub Website The following are features of our MEH website. Hull Music Hub Social Media We have a regular active profile on the following social networks / websites. On a scale of 1-10, please indicate how challenging the period March – July has been for Hull Music Hub in relation to the following areas: 10 = incredibly challenging / insurmountable 1 = not challenging at all Total number of ensembles and choirs for the 2019/20 academic year (September – March) (Not required for 2019/20 – ensembles & choirs organised independently by schools) Through delivery of the core and extension roles, Music Education Hubs support the Cultural Education Partnership (CEC) and contribute to the Local Cultural Education Partnerships (LCEPs) and/or similar local partnership working.