Reintegration of Musical Learning into Educational Settings

Reintegration of musical learning into educational settings

As COVID-19 lockdown restrictions ease and more pupils return to the classroom from August 2020, music will have a vital role to play.

We are providing guidance for Leicester and Leicestershire schools on safe musical learning.

As the lead organisation of the Leicester-Shire Music Education Hub our role is to:

• Support schools to reintegrate weekly tuition back into their schools
• Provide schools with Music Education Recovery Guidance and CPD to help pupils recover from the consequences of COVID-19 and the emotional impact of societal changes
• Support schools with risk assessment procedures for LSMS teachers on school sites
• Provide flexible provision Whole Class Ensemble Tuition tailored to your needs
• Provide appropriate pathways outside school settings for young people to develop their ensemble skills through area centres and central band and ensemble (these will be delivered digitally in the first instance)

We are continually reviewing our Risk Assessments with regard to Covid 19. These will be updated regularly and posted both here and on our Home page.

LSMS Covid 19 Risk Assessment 26.08.20

We recognise that school leaders face numerous challenges in reopening schools and we are keen to give you the support you need to put music at the heart of the recovery curriculum. The benefits of music for tackling mental health problems are well documented, so now more than ever it is crucial that we ensure every child has equal access to high quality music education. With this in mind, please see our free resource 'Music for wellbeing', prepared by Becky Bell (details below). This resource is designed to help children recover from the consequences of Covid-19 and emotional impact of societal changes. More information and activities provided by ISM can be found here

The #CanDoMusic campaign can also found here https://www.candomusic.org/

We also have some good news about the safe return for music in schools and we have collated the most recent information here to support you. As you can see from the Press Release below theDfE have updated their guidance to reflect that the latest research shows singing or playing wind and brass instruments do not present a higher risk than speaking if providers limit the number of participants and observe social distancing while managing volume and ventilation. We have a comprehensive Risk Assessment for Music in schools, which we are sharing with schools to support managing all the risks of music returning.

This news was issued just before guidance around mask wearing in schools. We do expect situations to keep changing, but the news is helpful for us in planning how we support schools with their music curriculum and instrumental learning over the academic year

We will be sending a weekly activity to support your staff and pupils with music at school and at home during the autumn term. Details will follow explaining how to register for these resources and we would welcome your feedback about them.

We are keen to be flexible in our offer to schools this term and will work with you to ensure that music service activities take place in a way that best suits your circumstances. This may be through face to face teaching, virtual lessons, class teacher resources or a blended approach that suits your needs.

We are following the latest guidance from the DFE and Arts Council England in returning to schools. We have rigorous risk assessments in place and we also have virtual whole class ensemble tuition, continuation, instrumental lessons, area centres and central ensembles. Your music leader will be in touch with you shortly to discuss your plans for the autumn term. Teaching commences w/c Monday 7th September.

Contact / Queries
If you have any queries about our projects, bookings or any way we might be able to help music making in your schools. please contact a member of our team using the details below. If you would like to book projects online, please click here.

Percussion, Strings & Ukulele - Matt Newnham - 07961 098088
Brass & Guitar - Tony Rifugiato - 07944 712233
Woodwind & Singing - Nicki Atkins - 07508 013201
Steel Pans - Gillian Ramshaw – 07535 641847
Music Technology – Brad Smith - 07508 013232
Special Schools - Sarah Share - 07905 502657
Secondary Schools - Sharon Jagdev Powell – 07936 349073

Curriculum resources and support Becky.Bell@leics.gov.uk

Instrument Queries – Richard Siddons - 07889 809841

Please note that as we are working from home there may be times when we may not be able to answer calls. If this is the case – please leave us a message a contact number and we will return your call as soon as we can.

We will be in touch with schools regularly with more information about how we can support you and your students.

Links for advice from the Dfe, ISM and www.gov.uk can be found on our Schools Page.