• MF has a significant impact on student motivation, enjoyment and engagement in music lessons
• Take-up of music at KS4 was high among MF students, and results at KS4 music were higher than the national average, with substantial improvements in schools where the students had experienced MF in Years 8 and 9
  
• MF students can clearly identify how they need to make progress in music
• MF equips students with a range of musical skills, and enables them to fulfill their musical potential
• One half of students agreed that MF helped them to feel more positive about school in general
• Senior managers recognised MF as a way of developing transferable skills among their students
• Teachers noted improved concentration, independent learning skills, team-working and organisational skills among their students
• MF is often interpreted just as 'band work', and the full spectrum of the MF approach isn't always embraced - this can mean the needs of all students are not met

1. Go to the registration page
2. Fill out their details
   
3. Once they've created an account they will be able to log in right away and upload their music

• A Next Brit Thing award
• BRITs / Classic BRITs tickets
• Industry showcase gig
• Recording session at Abbey Road

Pilots in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will take place during the 2011-2012 academic year and will trial Musical Futures' effectiveness and sustainability in its broader UK context, whilst establishing measures to enable the initiatives future continuation.

While Musical Futures approaches are being applied and adapted successfully by teachers nationally and internationally, this funding provides a fantastic opportunity to really explore how MF can be adapted outside of England, and applied in a variety of contexts.

Pilot schools in each country will undergo intensive training, and will then decide their own way through Musical Futures - ensuring that schools feel an ownership of the way that they approach the initiative.

Any schools interested in being considered for the pilot phase should contact:
National Coordinator: Wales - Viv John, email vjohn@uwic.ac.uk
National Coordinator: Scotland - alistairsalmond@talktalk.net

More information about Northern Ireland to follow soon.

Bookings are now being taken for 'Play - Learn - Live', a CPD event organised in collaboration with Musical Futures, Roland UK, Walsall College and Rockschool. This event is designed for classroom music teachers and music practitioners, and will take place on Saturday 2nd July, 9am-5pm, at Walsall College, Littleton Street West, WS2 8ES.

Full information about this event, including booking information, can be found HERE

A recent report by Dr Neryl Jeanneret, Rebecca McLennan and Jennifer Stevens-Ballenger (University of Melbourne) has demonstrated the transferability of Musical Futures to other countries and education systems.

The Musical Futures pilots, which took place in 10 government schools in Victoria, Australia, involved 11 music teachers and more than 1,200 students. This evaluation shows strong evidence of a positive impact, on teachers and students involved.

100% of teachers in the pilots felt that Musical Futures improved their music teaching, and stated that they are more confidence about facilitating student learning in a range of musical genres, teaching instrumental skills, and teaching music in general

Evidence of impact on students has been demonstrated in three main areas: engagement, social learning and the development of musical knowledge and skills, for example through improved attitudes towards music, increased self-esteem, motivation towards music, improved group work, improvement in on-task behaviour and general behaviour in class, and attendance.

According to the report Musical Futures has demonstrably engaged and empowered students in music and benefits other areas of learning in schools.

The evidence also shows that MF can contribute to the ten Australian curriculum capabilities of literacy, numeracy, ICT, thinking skills, creativity, self-management, teamwork, intercultural understanding, ethical behaviour and social competence.

Read the full report here

Job opportunity: Special Initiatives Administrator (including Musical Futures)

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is seeking an enthusiastic, confident administrator with excellent organisation and communication skills to provide support to a number of special initiatives run by the Education and Learning Team. Administering the Musical Futures training programme, as well as supporting the MF team, will form a key part of this full-time role.

General responsibilities of the Administrator will include:

• Providing support for several special initiative teams (Musical Futures, Musical Bridges, Learning Futures), meetings and events
• A range of information and communication tasks, including database management and updating of websites
• Overseeing the marketing and booking systems for national music teaching training activities
• Assisting with background research, surveys and scoping activities to support new and existing areas of work.

This is a full time post until 31st July 2012. Salary = £23,000 pa + excellent benefits

An information pack containing application details can be downloaded from the PHF website.

Closing date for applications: 12 noon on Thursday 10th March 2011

Interviews will take place on Thursday 17th March 2011

The long awaited Henley Review for Music Education has now been published. This document sets out a number of recommendations for music education in England, to which the government has responded.

There is a commitment to continue to fund music education through local authorities, Youth Music, Sing Up and In Harmony for a further year, while a National Music Plan is compiled. It is less certain whether music will remain as a subject in the National Curriculum.

For further views and opinions read our blog and David Price's blog.

Also, Jonathan Savage has collated a number of responses from across the sector here. 

Discounted places available at MusicLearningLive!2011

The Musical Futures team will be presenting and running practical workshops at MusicLearningLive! on the 3^rd and 4^th March 2011 at the RSAMD, Glasgow. Conference themes include folk/traditional music, digital learning and visions of the future, and the programme is packed with exciting workshops, presentations and of course live music.

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is currently conducting a feasibility study into developing Musical Futures in Scotland, with plans for pilot projects to begin shortly.

Musical Futures teachers/practitioners can receive a discount to attend the two-day conference of £270+VAT, or to attend for one day of £150+VAT. Please visit here for details quoting MFOFFER.

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is undertaking a feasibility study on the potential for transferability of the success of Musical Futures to the rest of the UK.

We acknowledge that the education systems in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are different from the English system which Musical Futures was devised under. However, there is currently a significant pilot programme underway in Australia, that is having a similar impact to that in English schools, indicating that Musical Futures success lies in the pedagogy, not the curriculum content.

Currently we're looking to talk to schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to get a sense of whether there is any demand for Musical Futures, and whether to pilot some support work.

If you are a music teacher in a school in one of these countries, who has already taken on some of Musical Futures and would like to share it with us, or if you work across schools and feel there is potential with this proposal, please contact David Price, Project Consultant, email pricedav@googlemail.com.

Thirty-five training and CPD events are already scheduled for the academic year 2010–11, with further courses being developed.

The new training and CPD courses are devised and led by a national network of Musical Futures Champion School teachers, who have independently applied Musical Futures successfully within their music departments and who share their own experiences through structured training and CPD courses.

Training/CPD is free of charge, and open to anybody from classroom teachers and peripatetic teachers, to Music Service/Local Authority staff, community musicians, students and other arts and education professionals. Courses are practical, hands-on, and aim to provide delegates with an insight into how pupils themselves experience musical learning through Musical Futures.

As well as introductory courses for newcomers to Musical Futures, and follow-on courses for those already implementing Musical Futures, this year’s programme also includes ‘Musical Futures Live’ sessions. These will involve Champion Schools opening up a Musical Futures lesson for delegates, followed by an opportunity for informal discussion and networking with staff.

The new sessions build on the success of earlier Musical Futures CPD and training. Over the past two years more than 700 delegates have attended 62 Musical Futures training courses across the country. Ninety-nine per cent of participants stated that they were considering adopting Musical Futures in their classrooms following the training.

All training and CPD courses are listed here

Search is on for Musical Futures Young Champions!

Musical Futures, in partnership with NUMU, is searching for a team of Musical Futures Young Champions, to provide informal peer-to-peer guidance, support and advice, and to act as young advocates for MF.

The programme will involve MF Young Champions communicating through NUMU with young people in other Musical Futures schools in their region. They will comment on the music they are making, offer constructive criticism, and answer any questions they may have about Musical Futures, or about music making in general. The Young Champions will blog regularly about their own music making activities, and will contribute to the Musical Futures page on NUMU, to highlight some of the great music-making happening in their region.

We are looking for young people who can demonstrate some or all of the following:

·         Are aged between 11-18

·         Are active on NUMU

·         Are passionate about music (not necessarily as performers)

·         Are good communicators

·         Are responsible and committed

·         Are comfortable with multimedia, and with online networking

MF Young Champions will complete a silver Arts Award as part of this project.

To apply to become a MF Young Champion please complete the online application form

All applications must be supported by a teacher. Closing date for applications: 22^nd October 2010.

Ready, set, GO! MF is collaborating with Youth Sports Trust on Olympics project

The Youth Sports Trust initiative is designed to provide specialist sports colleges with projects (currently in art, music and sport) that will provide schools with cross-curricular resources on an Olympic theme, and that will leave a legacy post-2012.

Musical Futures is the delivery partner for the music strand, which will involve a number of our MF Champions running workshops that merge the core values of music and sport, and that involve students collaborating to create a 'sounds of sport' piece of music. MF approaches, techniques and ethos will underpin the project delivery, and teachers/students will be encouraged to think about how they can develop the projects themselves.

Olympic 400-metre hurdler Tasha Danvers will be the ambassador for the project, where her passion and enthusiasm will undoubtedly inspire the students and teachers alike.

Pilot workshops for this project will take place in November, and if successful we will be rolling this out across Sports Colleges in England from Spring next year.

We are delighted that the Paul Hamlyn Foundation trustees have shown their ongoing support for Musical Futures by extending the project’s funding until July 2012.

This means that the PHF will have provided a continued, committed investment to music education for a total of nine years.

Musical Futures aims to provide sustainable support for schools and practitioners running Musical Futures, and the renewed funding will ensure the following:

·         To expand the network of Musical Futures Champions (practitioners across the country who demonstrate best Musical Futures practice)

·         To launch a restructured training and CPD programme, including ‘Musical Futures Live’ sessions which will see Musical Futures Champions opening up their Musical Futures lessons for observation and discussion

·         To establish an exciting new ‘Musical Futures Young Champions’ programme, enabling young people across the country to mentor and coach other MF students through the schools music social networking site NUMU (www.numu.org.uk)

·         To extend our library of resources to support music teachers with the high-quality delivery of Musical Futures

·         To strengthen links with initial teacher training providers, music services, and other organisations

·         To pilot running MF in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Musical Futures continues to work with the Institute of Education on a longitudinal research project into the long-term effects of Musical Futures on young people.

Watch this space for more details about training, resources and our MF Young Champions programme!

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has recently announced a new special initiative 'Musical Bridges'. The programme works with schools, local authority music services and other music educators to promote effective transfer strategies that support the musical, educational and personal development of young people as they move from primary to secondary school.

Musical Bridges has begun a consultation and mapping exercise to identify best practice and the key issues and barriers that need to be addressed to improve young people's musical experiences during the transfer between schools. The short-term aim is to build a national picture of music-related transition and transfer issues before moving to a proactive phase in 2011.

Musical Bridges is carrying out a major survey to identify issues that affect the quality of children's musical education experiences as they transfer between primary and secondary school, and would appreciate all teachers running Musical Futures filling in the online survey.

Click here to complete the online survey about musical transition, which should take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. Your email address will be entered into a prize draw to win £400 music equipment vouchers.

Musical Bridges has been initiated and is supported by a national steering group encompassing representatives from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Youth Music, Music Manifesto Partnership and Advocacy Group, the Department for Education and the National Music Participation Director. The programme is convened by Adrian Chappell. For further information contact musicalbridges@phf.org.uk, www.musicalbridges.org.uk

Musical Futures begins in Victoria, Australia

Schools in Australia are now introducing the Musical Futures Program as part of a state by state roll out commencing with ten pilot schools in Victoria.

The schools included come from metropolitan and regional settings including two schools from Mildura in the northwest of Victoria (Look it up on your map)

 As you can see by the happy photos, 35 teachers enjoyed their two intense days at the professional learning course introducing the key concepts of Musical Futures. The learning was all about participating to the fullest in all the musical activities. Yes they were thrown ”In the Deep End” , but managed to swim very well . A highlight was our classroom workshop sessions that really rocked.  Read more about the session here

Fantastic feedback from the latest Musical Futures evaluation paper!

The latest evaluation findings from the Musical Futures programme has found there are significant positive outcomes from implementing the Musical Futures programme into their classroom curriculum.

The report has been produced by the Institute of Education and was commisioned by Paul Hamlyn Foundation to look into the impact of the Musical Futures approach to teaching and learning in a number of our Champion Schools.

Overwhelmingly the evidence points to the ways in which both students and teachers can benefit from the informal learning and non-formal teaching approach of the Musical Futures - although of course there are still areas the team are looking to improve and work on for the future.

Headline statistics include:

o    81% of teachers found that MF increased enjoyment in teaching music

o    Teachers felt that MF helped pupils develop listening skills, self esteem and confidence and other    transferable skills such as organisational skills

o    89% of pupils indicated that they enjoy music at school

o    Some students reported improvement in concentration which transferred to other subjects

For further detailed information about the report, and to see the full Executive Summary, please click here.

Whole Education website and EXPO events 2010 - Revised Dates for Autumn Term 2010

Whole Education is a collaboration between leading non-profit organisations in education, which share a common set of beliefs about education and actively support schools, colleges and youth organisations to help provide young people with a ‘Whole Education’ across the country.

Our overall aim is to ensure that all young people have access to a Whole Education.

Our specific aims are:

1. To increase awareness and understanding of the need for Whole Education and to promote its value

2. To increase engagement and support from individuals and organisations across society for Whole Education

3. To enable widespread development, spread and adoption of Whole Education practices

4. To enable necessary changes in education policy

The active partners behind Whole Education so far include Oxfam, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, RSA, Edge, Innovation Unit, Human Scale Education, UK Youth, Futurelab, DEA, The Young Foundation, ASDAN, Co-Operative College, Food for Life Partnership, The Aldridge Foundation, Flow Foundation and Campaign for Learning. Whole Education partner initiatives work with over 5000 schools and colleges (including over three quarters of secondary schools), as well as numerous youth organizations and charities engaging directly with young people.

There are a series of high profile EXPO events taking place at various location across the country this Autumn term so for more information take a look here for an event near you

If you would like to support Whole Education, or just find out more about our work, please take a look at our website here

Search starts for the UK’s top school band

       And the winning Class Act will pick up the best prize

        in British music – a BRIT Award!

Prime Minister Gordon Brown: “The judges will have a tough decision ahead of them!”

Party leaders, teachers and celebrities are supporting a brand new BRIT Award which will be given to a school act – the prize in a national competition to find the UK’s future music stars. The new category of BRIT Award – the BRIT Class Act – is announced as part of the BPI’s 30^th Anniversary celebrations.

The Award has been created to recognise the BRITs’ commitment to encourage and nurture the UK’s future musical talent. The competition is open to school students up to 19 years old around the country, playing any genre of music with the best ‘Class Act’ winning a coveted BRIT Award. 

NUMU, the leading safe online music community for schools is the social media partner for Class Act. The partnership with NUMU means schools and music services can easily integrate Class Act across the curriculum and with other initiatives such as Musical Futures, Find Your Talent or the Creative and Media Diploma. Cliff Manning, NUMU Director, says: “BRIT Class Act builds on the great music education successes of the last few years and celebrates real young talent which is at the heart of NUMU”

First News, the award winning newspaper for young people co-founded by Piers Morgan, is one of the creators of Class Act. Piers says: “Class Act is a fantastic opportunity for every school student who has ever dreamed of being a music star.  I know we will be bowled over with the talent we uncover and it is after all the ultimate accolade to kick start a music career.”

The BRIT Class Act website will advise and help pupils to create their best track for the competition. Established bands will give tips and industry specialists will produce tool kits to give expert guidance to musicians as well as pupils who want to be involved in the process. The tool kits will cover everything from management and promotion to creative backup, so anyone can get involved.

The leaders of each of the major political parties are pledging their support for Class Act.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says: "I believe it's vital we help young people to discover their talents and channel their abilities. By supporting our schools, empowering expert teachers and investing in new facilities, even more children have the opportunity to progress in music. My ambition is that by 2011 over two million primary school pupils will be learning a musical instrument and joining in the fun. I'm proud of the wealth of talent our young people possess and I'm sure the judges will have a tough decision ahead of them."

Conservative Leader David Cameron says: “The BRIT Class Act is a great way to shine the light of publicity on a new generation of musicians.  I am sure it will capture the imagination, and inspire young people across the country to show us just what they can do. And we will all benefit from the new musical talent we'll see emerging as a result."

Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg says: "Class Act is a class idea. Britain has been blessed with some of the world's best musical artists. Schemes like this one to nurture the next generation of talent are as useful as they are fun for the young people involved."

The new Award is a flagship event of The National Year of Music. Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls says: “Some of the world’s most well-respected bands, like Radiohead and U2, met at school. The BRIT Class Act is a great opportunity for young people up and down the country to get together and showcase the huge talent they have to offer, and give us a glimpse of the big names to watch for the future.

“Music is at the heart of British popular culture. And now we’re in the first ever National Year of Music in 2010, we want more young people than ever to get involved in the fantastic opportunities that are on offer. This could mean learning about how the music industry works through “Class Act”, becoming part of the school choir, or taking advantage of the free music tuition classes primary schools are offering to pupils. Far from it just being about who’s top of the download charts each week, music teaches discipline, raises hopes and aspirations and gives kids skills that will stay with them for life.”

The competition will start in September 2010 with the launch of a new Official Class Act Schools Chart based on streaming. Number One acts each week will win a prize and will automatically go through to the Award shortlist. Wildcard entries selected by the BRITs panel will also make it through to the finals. First News, which currently reaches over a quarter of all school children, will be featuring a school band of the week in every issue until the winner is announced at the prestigious BRIT Awards in February 2011.

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of the BPI said, “The BPI has raised millions of pounds for charity through the BRITs, focusing on young people, music and education. A BRIT Award is the biggest prize in music, and we are excited as part of our 30th year celebrations to be offering every school pupil in the country the chance to compete to win a BRIT Award. Music is an inspirational force in young people's lives, and we hope this Award will encourage thousands of young people to pick up an instrument and play."

Tulisa from N-Dubz added “Artists are right behind this. It’s going to make a big difference by recognising the passion and talent out there.”

The hunt for the next generation of talent has begun…

Flegg High School in Norfolk, a Musical Futures Champion School, has been exemplified in a recent Ofsted report for best practice in Musical Futures work.

The report 'Making More of Music: Improving the Quality of Music Teaching in Secondary Schools' has been published as a series of examples of music teaching to follow on from the earlier report 'Making More of Music: An Evaluation of Music in Schools 2005-08'.

Flegg High School is the school discussed in Example 4, where students were evaluating their own informal learning performances by comparing them to a professional clip of musicians performing in a recording studio.

Comments from the inspector included:

• 'The level of engagement and quality of response were much better than those normally seen' 
• 'There was clear evidence of the impact of earlier work on developing students' evaluation skills'
• 'Students told the inspector that they felt they all listen to music differently now since they had to work it out for themselves'
• 'This approach has developed students' aural skills'
• 'Students' comments gave clear evidence of the impact of the work on their wider musical interests'

All of the 'moves to outstanding teaching' outlined in the report can be easily applied to good Musical Futures practice, for example: start with aural learning; develop integrated practice; give students opportunities to develop their learning in different ways; enable students to experience what it feels like to be a professional musician; increase depth of musical understanding.

Fiona Sexton, Head of Music at Flegg High School, has provided an account of her experience of being evaluated for this inspection in our Musical Futures Teacher Resource Pack. Read the chapter with Fiona's experiences here.

The full report is available from the Ofsted website.

Musical Futures supports the Brit Writers’ Awards

Musical Futures schools are invited to become part of a new initiative to uncover hidden writing talent.

The Brit Writers' Awards (BWA) Unpublished 2010 is a national awards programme for unpublished writers – the first of its kind in the UK. This new initiative has been created to encourage and inspire new writers of all ages and from all backgrounds.

The Brit Writers’ Awards promises to become the biggest annual event on the UK’s literary calendar. More than a million people are expected to get involved in this national initiative, with 11 awards including poetry, novels and songwriting.

The Brit Writers are investing in the future success of the music industry by encouraging new songwriting talent within the education, community and private sectors. A specific award category has been created as part of the BWA – to attract and nurture new talent, particularly young people from within our hundreds of member schools across the country to have a go at writing songs and getting their talent recognised. Musical Futures Project Leader David Price OBE will be a judge for the songwriting category.

Musical Futures schools can become a member of the Brit Writers Awards by visiting the schools section of the website. The national entry deadline is Friday 18 December 2009 and the awards ceremony will take place on Saturday 27 March 2010.

www.britwriters.co.uk

Musical Futures and the National Year of Music

Musical Futures will be contributing to the National Year of Music, a new DCSF initiative that will run throughout the 2009/10 academic year. The National Year of Music will be launched in September 2009 by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

The ambition is to bring together and showcase the wide range of music-related experiences available to children and young people across England, and to encourage each of them - whatever their talent - to get involved in music.

We are keen to hear of any Musical Futures events run by schools, Music Services, Local Authorities, community music organisations, for example gigs, showcases, exciting classroom work - that we could pass onto the team running the National Year of Music.

Please contact Abigail D'Amore, National Coordinator, tel 07837 631492, email feedback@musicalfutures.org.uk if you have any good practice to share!

Wii Music comes to Musical Futures classrooms

20th July 2009

The scheme is currently running in five Musical Futures Champion Schools. Each school has incorporated Wii Music into Musical Futures lessons, and teachers and students will feedback on how useful and engaging they found Wii Music as part of the learning process.

Ian Tait, head of music, Banovallum School says: 'I'm trialling Wii Music with our Year 7 and Year 8 pupils - principally as a starter activity. The pupils associate the Wii with having fun, so if that can be combined with the learning process, we have a great means of engagement. I've also found that incorporating Wii Music into lessons can be a useful way to encourage students that are disinterested in music to be more responsive and interactive in their music lessons.'

The results of the Wii Music trial, as well as resource produced by the teachers, will be available from this website.

Musical Futures is officially re-launched

13th June 2009

The publication of Musical Futures: An Approach to Teaching and Learning along with the redevelopment of the Musical Futures website and the announcement that ex-Police star Sting has agreed to be the global patron of the initiative, marks a new phase in the development of Musical Futures.

Paul Hamlyn Foundation Chair Estelle Morris commended the achievements of Musical Futures, and the hard work and dedication of the inspirational teachers and practitioners who have taken it on.

The band 'Missing Link', a group of Year 9 students from Harrogate Grammar School who formed through Musical Futures lessons, performed some of their own creations, and explained how inspiration for their song lyrics came from a series of text messages to each other.

Musical Futures in Australia (see news story below) was officially launched at this reception, when NAMM Chief Executive Joe Lamond presented David Price (Musical Futures) with a cheque to enable the Australian Music Association to launch a model of Musical Futures in Australia.

Sting supports Musical Futures by becoming its patron

30th May 2009

Sting becomes the global patron of Musical Futures and officially endorses the work of the initiative, on June 12, 2009, when Musical Futures is re-launched.

New Musical Futures resource materials now available!

30th May 2009

Designed to guide teachers and practitioners through the ethos and approach of Musical Futures, they provide practical advice and a range of resources, including:

• Interactive guide to whole-group classroom workshopping
• Practical resources for exploring the transition from Wider Opportunities to Musical Futures
• Guide to songwriting in schools
• New audio resources, including Coldplay, Kings of Leon and Kaiser Chiefs
• Advice on: managing space, equipment and music technology; co-constructing a curriculum with your students; personalising extra-curricular activities; and dealing with external observers
• Plus updated practical advice and guidance on all aspects of Musical Futures

Musical Futures, An Approach to Teaching and Learning' will be launched at the London International Music Show, at the Excel Centre in London's Docklands, on June 12, along with a revamped website.

Order or download your free copy here.

Musical Futures featured in a documentary this week on Huw Stephens 'Introducing' show on Radio 1

The programme (on the 25th February at 9pm) was looking at performing arts schools (mainly the Brit School), and whether the 'stars of the future' have to go to these schools to learn about becoming a musician. Lucy Green was on the programme talking about her research into how popular musicians learn, and this was followed by a visit to Benton Park School in Leeds, where Dave Pritchard (one of our Musical Futures Champion School teachers) spoke about the impact of Musical Futures, and his students spoke about their experiences. The programme was trying to establish whether young people with talent have to go to a performing arts school such as the Brit School, or whether they can have meaningful musical experiences in 'normal' school - and of course we believe they can!

You can listen again to the documentary (which is around 15 minutes into the show) at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/huwstephens/

....and shortly the documentary will be available from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/documentaries/