7 May 2014
Part one: Sharing what we know & what are the needs/issues in secondaries?
(For more ‘sharing what we’re doing’ see Google Docs spreadsheet as discussed and will follow)
Knowledge sharing – amongst partners, amongst schools
 Schools will be better served, and we will work far more effectively as partners, achieve far better distribution of opportunities, make best use of resources, by understanding who’s working where and doing what. The Google Docs spreadsheet will be a starting point; the Data App will develop this further.
 Some discussion of specific schools – please add this intelligence in the notes fields on Google Docs schools spreadsheet! (will help to know too which are the poorer schools or harder to reach etc)
 Schools music depts want more understanding of what each other are doing – including basics like, what exam board do you use. This will be collected in the data app. They want to work in clusters
(primaries?) to save money, support each other locally.
 Relationships are key, face-to-face, one-to-one particularly. How do we collectively manage relationships, understanding needs, feeding back centrally, and identifying the right offer for a school – with professional integrity. Good relationships, trust and open communication between all partners is critical.
CPD/Practice sharing – amongst partners, amongst schools
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E admin@gloucestershiremusic.co.uk
W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk

 Partners - appreciation of the value of each other’s approaches so can advocate in schools and beyond – need to dissolve boundaries about genres it’s all about being the best musicians young people can be.
 Schools – are thirsty for this, GlosMM and Commissioning Team very aware that simply getting together and asking each other ‘what are you doing’ ‘how do you do that’ ‘have you tried this’ etc is invaluable. Networking alone is invaluable – with added CPD it’s powerful.
 Each school now had to provide support for pupils who are at risk of exclusion – Alternative
Curriculum schools settings – often few links between music dept and this dept in a school, but music can be the key to engaging them in learning. GlosMM experts in this area of work and have experience but largely in out of mainstream school settings (eg PRUs).
 Networks, cluster working, and CPD are key … ideally twilight
Transition and continuation
 Some schools (Winchcombe) ask pupils a set of questions about their interests, what they’ve done previously, in year 6 – and this gets sent to the secondary school they’re going to. Ben (Songwriting
Charity) asked them to include music questions. Hub could encourage this for all schools.
Schools plan
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E admin@gloucestershiremusic.co.uk
W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk

 Alan Winwood meeting with schools in the working party in next couple of weeks to set agree actions.
Challenges / possible solutions
 Getting heads of music to come to things. Recent examples of promoted opportunities and only 2 turned up. G15 event has had to be cancelled/reduced because of lack of uptake,
 Feedback from a school near a music centre – don’t feel they have info/relationships on/with centre and groups
 How do we reach them? Headteachers, and Head of Music.
 What questions do we need to ask schools? Eg what’s happening now, what’s happened in past, what are barriers you’re facing? Helpful to have a set of feedback/needs questions used by all partners as a crib list.
Partnership working
 We identified opportunities for Cheltenham Festivals to link with GlosMM and/or Songwriting
Charity for vocal (jazz acapella); and to GlosMM re Arts Award researching a musical hero linked to
Fest performers.
 Existing examples of partnerships that are working, to deliver in secondaries – GlosMM and The
Songwriting Charity at Winchcombe – embedded skills and a way of sustaining a choir in school, laid foundations for bigger project led solely by Songwriting Charity.
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E admin@gloucestershiremusic.co.uk
W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk

Part two: The young person’s dilemma: what progression routes does sh/e want and need; what are the barriers, how can we begin to dissolve them (visioning diagram)
If a young person coming into secondary school, has had whole class teaching, wants to make music – what are the barriers, how can we as a Hub intervene and help?
Barriers and possible solutions
Inspiration and feeling it’s for me - schools music’s boring, my teacher isn’t inspiring, I don’t like that type of music >> ‘music’s not for me’

Put HE/FE students into schools to give performances in all sorts of genres, inspire, make up for anything that may be lack in a particular dept eg technology. But once inspired, then what?

Show how other young people have done it and progressed (if they can do it, so can I)
 Advocacy around we’re all musicians, avoid genre labelling, make sure we don’t reinforce as practitioners, don’t rubbish other genres/types of practice
Information - if music is for me - lack of information about what’s available
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Touchbass

Information about music groups and centres
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Actively, constantly, consistantly, asking for info, sharing info, promoting info

Heads of music role in signposting
– how do we make it easier for them?
Suitability – no opportunities/routes that are right for me, my music, that would inspire my passion and instrinsic motivation

As above, partly to do with information

Hub to seek out and support (not necessarily financially) a variety of routes
 Support the YP that ‘go underground’ – have intrinsic motivation and play but need support and development … recognise their need for autonomy … don’t impose or prescribe but support how?

Set up cost effective, after school clubs (in the school straight after school day) that are broad-based, allow young people to follow their own interests, but support them … use other young people, and
HE/FE students, as well as an experienced music leader – let them lead their learning once ready … similar to Musical Futures approach

In our offers, integrate singing and instruments
Support - money, transport
Support - lack of parental support/understanding
 Help parents to value music making … seeing and hearing performances is key.

Get young people into some form of starter experience and always invite parents … even learning together
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E admin@gloucestershiremusic.co.uk
W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk


Help parents to value group learning (many see it as ‘as good as’ 1-1 tuition) don’t
Support – from friends – lack of – bullying – causes YP to drop out of eg singing groups

CPD mentoring skills for music leaders, around setting ground rules in groups, sacred space, feedback skills, helping YP to feedback to each other etc
Part three: What are our priorities for secondaries and young people’s journey?
These were mainly ideas for what needs to happen, not how …
1.
Quality music tech - support heads of music to offer
2.
Range of opportunities - signpost (& support) all the music opportunities incl things like brass bands, folk clubs
3.
Set targets!! What % yp do we want to reach by end of year – fundamental and important.
4.
Young role models - get music leaders from FE/HE into schools
5.
Different ways of learning - offer (free/low cost) after school clubs at schools, that are based around yp’s needs & interests (cross curriculuar links?)
- top quality, multi-genre, small group teaching … training peris and others to deliver, group skills are similar to whole class; young people (for facilitating yp to lead own learning, etc) skills are similar to mentoring o Could get video footage of the peri in Severn Vale school who is facilitating using just this sort of approach – would promote the training, encourage understanding o (NB from Anita, after the session: some training of school leadership teams about what makes a great music lesson, there would be two videos we think, a short one to promote the sessions
(2-3 mins), and a longer one to act as a resource (6-10 mins perhaps longer)
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E admin@gloucestershiremusic.co.uk
W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk

6.
Help young people in mainstream school but out of mainstream curriculum provision, to access music
(eg SEN – only one tenth of pupils with SEN are inspecial schools in Glos … biggest and growing group is those with Autism Spectrum Disorders)
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E admin@gloucestershiremusic.co.uk
W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk