Archived decisions
Richard Howlett, Head of Hampshire Music Service, 02380 652037; [email protected]
1 Summary
1.1 The purpose of this report is to recommend that the Executive Member for Education should be advised to support the Government's Music Manifesto.
1.2 The report sets out the available options and the benefits for Hampshire in supporting the aims of the Music Manifesto. It includes the following appendices:
Appendix 1: a copy of the Music Manifesto
Appendix 2: the mission statement and aims of Hampshire Music Service
1.3 The issues raised in this report support very substantially the Outcomes of the Children Act and the County Council's Corporate Strategy: see sections 8 and 9 below.
2 Background
2.1 Music is a statutory subject within the National Curriculum for all children aged 5 to 14. This gives all children the chance to learn music in their class lessons. Much music learning also takes place beyond these lessons - in the "extended curriculum" - such as in additional instrumental and singing lessons, music clubs, workshops and in school, area, county and community bands, orchestras and choirs. A network of organisations including community musicians, private teachers, the music industry, and Local Authority Music Services and the Government provide and/or fund these opportunities.
2.2 In recent years, and especially since 2000, there has been a groundswell of interest in music, and in the beneficial impact it can make to the lives of individual people and to their communities.
3 Hampshire Music Service (HMS)
3.1 Hampshire County Council's Music Service is one of the foremost music services in the country. It receives frequent accolades and invitations for Hampshire ensembles to perform at very high profile events, such as the annual Music for Youth Schools Proms in the Royal Albert Hall.
3.2 HMS aims to encourage all children to "participate, enjoy and achieve" in music. It promotes and provides high quality tuition in music in schools and in the extended curriculum through its many bands, orchestras and choirs.
3.3 HMS works closely with the Recreation and Heritage Department in promoting music projects, including a long-established programme of school workshops by members of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Core funding for these is provided by the Recreation and Heritage Department. Continued joint working will support the creation of new opportunities, including strategies to reach young people beyond the school system through innovative outreach schemes
3.4 In the year 2000, HMS led Hampshire's extremely successful "Music 2000" project (HM2000). Through local sponsorship, a major grant from the Millennium Festival Fund and County Council funding, HM2000 provided 2000 new instruments and supported 2000 days of music-making across Hampshire. It also funded the commissioning of a new work "Between now... and always" by local composer Martin Read. This piece was performed as part of a series of concerts that involved 2000 young performers. Sections of the work were performed in the Millennium Dome and at the Schools Prom in the Royal Albert Hall.
3.5 In July 2004, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) published its Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners. One of its aims for primary schools is that all children aged 7 - 11 who wish to should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. This is known as its "wider opportunities" strategy. HMS is working with several headteachers to develop wider opportunity pilot schemes that will give access to instrumental playing and singing to many more children. The service already reaches a substantial proportion of schoolchildren (between 20% and 30% of each year group by the age of 11) through regular teaching, workshops, festivals and concerts.
4 The Music Manifesto
4.1 In a further positive development, following widespread consultation, the Government launched its Music Manifesto, subsequently referred to in this report as `the manifesto', in June 2004. Its purpose is to communicate a set of agreed, overarching aims for music and to encourage all those involved to work together closely to support these aims. A copy of the manifesto is attached to this report as Appendix 1.
4.2 The five aims of the manifesto are:
1. To provide every young person with first access to a range of music experiences.
2. To provide more opportunities for young people to deepen and broaden their musical interests and skills.
3. To identify and nurture our most talented young musicians.
4. To develop a world class workforce in music education.
5. To improve the support structures for young people's music making.
4.3 The manifesto invites all involved in music, including music education and the music industries, to endorse its aims by becoming signatories. The expressed purpose of signing is: "to commit to doing all in our power to ensure that our organisations live up to the promise of its five aims." The names of signatories are listed on the manifesto website at: www.musicmanifesto.co.uk
The front page of the website celebrates the latest signatories, which include, as at 6 September 2005: National Music Council; Jazz Services Ltd.; Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA); Cheshire Music Education Partnership.
4.4 The website also provides a link to the first report on the manifesto, published in July 2005. This summarises many high profile and celebrated features of the country's music education provision. It refers specifically to HMS's highly successful partnership with Hampshire schools.
4.5 In addition to becoming a signatory to the manifesto, there is the opportunity to pledge specific actions towards the aims. Pledges are public statements of specific activities and targets that will contribute to the aims. In its service plan, HMS already has a range of relevant, challenging targets. Three of these targets, set out below, are proposed as appropriate pledges for the County Council.
· To offer to 3000 children, annually, the chance to attend their first concert - a "Primary Prom" Concert, to introduce them to a range of exciting music ensembles, and different styles of music. These "first experience concerts" are planned for The Anvil, Basingstoke. The concerts are inclusive - they are open to all primary-aged children in Hampshire schools. There is no charge to schools, and financial assistance is provided by HMS towards transport costs. Funding is provided through the Government's Standards Fund Grant to HMS, with an estimated budget of £10,000 per concert.
· To develop, pilot and share with all Hampshire maintained primary and special schools, wider opportunities modules, including ukulele, violin, recorder, keyboard, fife, samba, and guitar. This programme will give access to instrumental playing to more primary-aged children. Funding is provided jointly by schools and HMS. An annual DfES wider opportunities grant of £10,000 per year will fund the HMS contribution to the pilot schemes. Funding for the roll-out of the schemes to all schools is not provided for currently. Wider opportunities is an inclusive programme. The target is to achieve a wider opportunities programme that is accessible and appealing to all primary-aged children.
· To develop further the existing Hampshire music ensembles to provide regular, high quality playing and singing opportunities for another 550 young musicians, an increase of 20% over current numbers. Funding for ensembles is provided through the County Council's core budget to HMS, and through the Standards Fund Grant. The Standards Fund is used to broaden the range of ensembles, to include popular and world music - a change that enables more children to engage with music of their preferred genre. The capacity of existing ensembles and planned developments in popular and world music already provide for increased membership.
5 Financial implications
5.1 There are no financial implications of becoming a signatory.
5.2 The three pledges proposed in this report are initiatives that are contained already in the HMS Service Plan 2005-2008. The funding for these initiatives is available within existing resources. Providing that the Music Service's core budget from the County Council and the Government's Standards Fund Grant are sustained, these valuable plans can be fulfilled.
5.3 The roll-out of wider opportunities will require each primary school to plan a programme to meet its own needs. Discussions on a Hampshire wider opportunities strategy will continue over the next two years. There may be resource implications that will need to be considered at the time.
6 Benefits to the County Council
6.1 The benefits of becoming a signatory are:
· to gain further public recognition of the County Council's continued commitment to provide a high quality music education service for the children and schools of Hampshire
· to give a national lead to other councils in supporting the aims of the manifesto, and to encourage local music organisations to do likewise
· to provide greater encouragement for music organisations and others in Hampshire to work collaboratively in new partnerships, to further enhance musical opportunities for children
· to support all the highly dedicated music staff in Hampshire Music Service and in schools with a visible, public recognition of the value and importance of music and of the vital role and importance of all these staff
7 Contributions to the Outcomes of the Children Act, to the Corporate Strategy and to the aims of HMS
7.1 The aims of the manifesto are complementary to, and fully in tune with, the outcomes of the Children Act and the aims of the County Council's Corporate Strategy. They harmonise well with the current musical aims of Hampshire Music Service (see appendix 2). Furthermore, the significance of the manifesto goes beyond the Children's Services Department. The Recreation and Heritage Department, and the many partners they work with would find common cause with the aims of the manifesto.
8 Children Act Outcomes
8.1 The five outcomes of the Children Act are set out below, with a summary of how the proposals in this report contribute to their achievement
· being healthy: by encouraging music as an enjoyable, social, mental and physical activity
· staying safe: by encouraging the provision of well organised music activities that help children to learn about their rights and responsibilities, and help them to learn to stay safe. In group music-making, children learn about the importance of each individual as well as the collective responsibility of the whole team. Understanding and valuing others' roles encourages strong peer respect and good behaviour.
· enjoying and achieving: by encouraging high quality music education for children that promotes positive attitudes to learning. Creativity, at the heart of music making, can help raise attainment and motivate young people. The many skills that are enhanced through music making are transferable life skills, including imagination, discipline, teamwork and determination
· making a positive contribution: by encouraging music activities that promote participation, personal responsibility, co-operation with others, and encourage many life skills.
· economic well-being: by encouraging music activities that can engage all children, and can help to prepare them for adulthood and their own economic well-being. The skills that music helps to develop including creativity, discipline, imagination and increased self-esteem, can enhance academic attainment and are highly valued by employers
9 Corporate Strategy
9.1 The proposals in this report contribute to the aims of the Corporate Strategy as follows:
Aim 1 - maximising life opportunities - by promoting steps that will increase participation in learning.
Aim 3 - achieving economic prosperity - by providing access to music activities that promote valuable personal skills and attributes including teamwork, collaboration, personal responsibility, self-esteem, discipline and creativity. These can enhance access to employment.
Aim 4 - building strong and safe communities - by encouraging partnerships and co-operation within community ensembles, music helps to foster local pride, purpose and achievement in local communities across Hampshire.
Aim 5 - improving services - by recommending measures that can provide for a growth in the numbers, standards and progress in music of Hampshire children. The recommended pledge will provide further, measurable targets for improvement, which are detailed in the HMS Service Plan.
Aim 6 - developing councillors and staff - by providing staff development to enhance group teaching approaches in the wider opportunity schemes
10 HMS aims
10.1 The mission and aims of HMS (see Appendix 2) focus on encouraging and promoting music for pupils, schools and the community of Hampshire. These aims support well the broader aims of the manifesto (see paragraph 4.2), and this report proposes that they are adopted as overarching aims for HMS. This would help to:
· demonstrate the very high commitment of the service to music for all pupils
· focus further attention on the priority of recruiting, encouraging and developing more, excellent, music teachers in the county
· confirm HMS as a key player in Hampshire's support structures for music education
11 Options
There are three options for Hampshire County Council:
11.1 Option 1: to become a signatory to the manifesto.
There are considerable benefits from becoming a signatory. These are set out in paragraph 6 of this report.
11.2 Option 2: to become a signatory to the manifesto with a pledge of specific action.
The pledging of the specific actions would add significant strength to the signing and indicate the Council's longer-term commitment to supporting and widening high quality music opportunities for all children
11.3 Option 3: not to be a signatory to the manifesto.
No benefit is gained by not becoming a signatory to the manifesto. This would be a lost opportunity to add Hampshire's considerable weight to the national momentum in support of music.
12 Legal Implications
None
13 Financial Implications
These are set out in section 5 of the report
14 Personnel Implications
None directly arising from this report
15 Impact Assessment
16 Crime prevention issues
None directly arising from this report
17 Views of others
.
17.1 The manifesto has been considered by the HMS Review Group of headteachers, representing all phases, who are fully supportive of it.
Recommendations:
1. That Members recommend that the Executive Member for Education:
a) endorses the aims of the Music Manifesto, on behalf of the County Council, by becoming a signatory to it.
b) adopts the five aims of the Music Manifesto as overarching aims for the County Council's Music Service.
c) pledges to support the aims of the Music Manifesto during the period 2005-08 through the following planned, new initiatives of the Hampshire Music Service:
· Offering to 3000 children, annually, the chance to attend their first concert - a "Primary Prom" Concert, to introduce them to a range of exciting music ensembles, and different styles of music.
· Developing, piloting and sharing with all Hampshire maintained primary and special schools, wider opportunities modules, including ukulele, violin, recorder, keyboard, fife, samba, and guitar, to offer access to instrumental playing to more primary-aged children for the first time.
· Developing further the existing Hampshire music ensembles to provide regular, high quality playing and singing opportunities for a further 550 young musicians, an increase of 20% over current numbers.
2 That Members recommend to the Executive Member for Education that a further report on the roll-out of the wider opportunities programme to all Hampshire primary schools be made during the academic year 2006-07, to include a progress report on the pledges in recommendation 2.
Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents
The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.
NB: the list excludes
1. Published works
2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.
None