Could you be a Lead School for Music Education in Herefordshire?

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Encore is seeking applications from schools to become Lead Schools for music education in Herefordshire. Lead School status would recognise schools’ excellence in music provision and would provide them with opportunities to work with the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Music Hub in accessing, influencing and shaping developments at a local and national level.

 

Encore is a thriving charitable cultural organisation and brings high quality music and arts to a wide range of people across Herefordshire. We provide services to nearly every school in the county. There is a DfE ‘music hub’ grant (administered by Arts Council England) that supports music education across England. From September 2024 the music hubs have been grouped together and there is now a combined Herefordshire & Worcestershire hub who oversee the strategy for use of the grant.

 

For the hub work, Encore has partnered with Severn Arts who are a similar organisation covering Worcestershire. They are the ‘Hub Lead Organisation’ and in turn commission Encore to deliver the Herefordshire part of the music hub work. Consequently, this document is devised by Severn Arts for the whole hub area and Encore is in turn liaising with our Herefordshire schools as part of the commissioning partnership.

 

The Power of Music to change lives: A National Plan for Music Education published in June 2022 sets out the previous Government’s vision for music education through to 2030 and requires the Hub to appoint Lead Schools in each Local Authority area.

 

The appointed schools (secondary, primary, special/alternative provision) will support Encore to develop strong links with Herefordshire schools and facilitate opportunities for peer-to-peer learning.

 

Lead Schools should be able to demonstrate how they exemplify high-quality music provision and teaching, champion best practice in their area, and show commitment to key aspects including curriculum delivery, extra-curricular activities, inclusive provision, and teacher development.

 

Lead Schools will be expected to:

 

• Offer Support to schools and Encore to develop music teaching through guidance, planning, hosting and attending school learning networks and CPD sessions.

• Attend planned meetings with the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Music Hub schools’ group and Oversight Panel (four core meetings per academic year).

• Advocate for and champion music education in Herefordshire and encourage more young people to take part in music particularly those who are facing barriers to participation.

 

Benefits of being a Lead School:

 

• Recognition as a Lead School in Herefordshire with an exemplary and broad music education provision.

• Opportunity to support schools across Herefordshire and influence and shape high-quality music education, in partnership with Encore.

• Opportunity to access national debate, activity and resources pertaining to music education.

 

Lead Schools will be recruited and appointed using the following criteria as set out by Arts Council England:

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• Capacity to take on a Lead School role

• An established rich musical culture, curriculum, co-curricular and extra-curricular offer in schools to include vocal/instrumental lessons, ensembles, and musical events and opportunities.

• Offer of GCSE/vocational music qualification (where applicable)

• Offer of A-level/vocational music qualification (where applicable)

• Historic track record of investing in music CPD for teachers and/or other school staff

• Historic track record of engaging with a hub or supporting the delivery of music on a local level

• School Music Development plan in place

• A proven track record of introducing and fully embedding music in the school curriculum, with at least 1 timetabled hour per week at Key Stage 1-3, either using the Model Music Curriculum or a curriculum of comparable breadth and ambition

• Commitment to supporting pupil progression across the whole school community.

• A track record of, or the potential to, promote the teaching of music with schools locally and/or regionally and leading/supporting CPD for music teachers or any other relevant subjects.

• Strong focus on inclusion within the school and/or links to other organisations that have a strong inclusion focus.

 

How to apply:

 

Please submit an expression of interest of not more than two sides of A4 by Friday 31st January 2025 to Sue Walker at swalker@encore-enterprises.com. Please use the Arts Council England criteria outlined above to detail your school’s suitability to be a Lead School for Herefordshire. If you would like to discuss the role of Lead School before applying please contact Sue Walker. To find out more about Music Hubs please follow this link:

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https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/MusicHubs

 

Meetings with shortlisted schools will take place in February 2025.

 

Lead Schools will be appointed by March 31st 2025 and will be required to sign a partnership agreement to be submitted to Arts Council England in April 2025.