Children benefit from music grant

EIGHTY children from five primary schools across Warrington will benefit from a £120,000 grant for a new music project.
Accent Music Education Hub, Warrington and Halton, has been awarded the grant by the National Foundation for Youth Music.
The aim of the project is to enhance the life-chances of these young participants by helping to unlock their potential and meet the musical needs of a wider range of children and young people.
Individual learning plans will cover use of music technology, instruments, voice, production skills, song-writing and performance opportunities across various music genres.
A creative family-learning element is planned to encourage parental support. This includes ‘learn together family music days’ where parents and carers learn to play music with their children and other sharing events, including performances, will also take place for family and friends.
The ‘Exchanging Notes’ initiative aims to establish if this collaborative approach brings additional benefits for young people at risk. Along with nine other similar projects around the country, Birmingham City University will be undertaking a rigorous study of the project to evaluate the educational, musical and other outcomes of these new models of partnerships for the pupils involved. It will also examine how the distinctive educational approaches used in schools and out-of-school settings might be combined.
This idea for the new approach came out of a pilot study undertaken by Youth Music’s which highlighted some of the key differences in music education experienced outside and inside the classroom. The study noted that the teaching style used in the out-of-school music projects placed an equal focus on personal and social outcomes as well as musical outcomes, potentially providing additional benefits for the young people taking part.
Janice Pounds, Strategic Lead, Accent Music Education Hub said: “We’re thrilled to have been awarded this grant by the National Foundation for Youth Music. It will allow us to build upon the great music development projects currently taking place across Warrington and enable us to see and document the real difference that a high quality music offer can make to these young people’s lives.”
Steve Oates, Director, Score Creative Education said: “Studies have shown that young people learn much about music outside of the formal classroom environment and these findings are also supported by a recent consultation that we carried out involving Warrington-based musicians and local school children.
“The Exchanging Notes project will enable pupils at University Academy to bring together their formal and informal learning and experiences and we believe this can have a beneficial effect on their development and attainment at school.”
Matt Griffiths, Executive Director, Youth Music said: “We’re delighted to support this project which I’m sure will be of great benefit to the pupils involved in Warrington. We look forward to the results of the research with great excitement as it is the first time such a rigorous study of combined approaches between schools and music providers who normally work in out-of-school settings has been done.
“The results may well turn out to be of enormous significance to stimulate fresh thinking in music education and support the aspirations set out in the National Plan for Music Education.”