Surrey Arts are pleased to announce the appointment of Charlotte Miller as the new independent chair of Surrey Music Hub.
Surrey Music Hub is a network of music organisations and schools working together to bring more musical opportunities to more young people in Surrey, both in schools and in the wider community.
The lead partner of the network is Surrey Arts. Head of Service, Sarah Lee said ‘We are delighted to welcome Charlotte to the Music Hub board and look forward to drawing from her experience of working in the health and music sectors.’
Charlotte brings a wealth of experience having studied at Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Centre, London and obtained a Masters in Music Therapy. She has also worked as a music therapist in NHS hospitals, schools and care homes delivering a variety of music, health and educational intergenerational programmes. In 2017 Charlotte founded IMM, Intergenerational Music Making and since its formation she has led and shaped with her IMM team many local and national initiatives.
Charlotte commented “I am thrilled to be appointed as the new Chair of Surrey Arts Hub working alongside the Music Hub lead organisation, Surrey Arts, and partners to ensure and maintain the effective delivery of the new National Plan for Music Education (NPME) both in and out of school settings. I am extremely passionate about the work Surrey Arts carries out in ensuring that all children and young people can access high quality music education opportunities that meet their needs.”
Charlotte believes strongly in the power of intergenerational music to bridge the gap between generations, addressing issues such as loneliness, isolation, those living with dementia, mental health issues and championing black and ethnically diverse groups. IMM strives to bring individuals, communities and professionals together and through music IMM continues to strive for change and to maximise the health and social benefits for young and old alike.
The appointment of the independent chair will ensure stronger governance for the hub and strategic oversight for the delivery of the National Plan for Music Education.
Surrey Music Hub, lead by Surrey Arts, and in partnership with Big Leaf Surrey were runners up in the Outstanding Music Initiative category at the Music and Drama Education Awards in February for the Music Connects project.
Music Connects, which received a Highly Commended Certificate, is a songwriting project which started in 2020 and is designed to bring together displaced young people living in Surrey, local young people and musicians in order to share life stories, make new music and build friendships and understanding.
Sarah Lee, Surrey Arts Head of Service said ‘We are delighted that the judges recognised the impact of our project and the potential for future development‘
Project Lead Jim Pinchen added ‘I’m so delighted that the talents and courage of young people have been recognised at this prestigious national event. Special thanks to our incredible music tutors and our colleagues at Big Leaf Foundation for making this project such a huge success!”
Music Connects delivered two residential music workshops, the first taking place at the Surrey Outdoor Learning Centre in October 2021, and the second taking place over a weekend at Jamie’s Farm in the hills of Herefordshire in May 2022. Following this the participants then performed their new song “I Will Find My Way” to a live audience on Sunday 26 June 2022 at London’s iconic Union Chapel.
The project was also supported with funding from Youth Music.
Welcome to our Spring Term 2 Newsletter. Below you will find a wide range of opportunities both for you and for the children and young people you teach, including, for example, details of our Surrey Schools Music Conference 2023, a new secondary/special schools advisory group, dates for Singing Picnics, range of useful and interesting CPD sessions, and some vacancies at Surrey Arts.
As always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch SurreyArtsSchools@surreycc.gov.uk We wish you a restful and enjoyable half-term break!
John Stephens
Curriculum Manager Surrey Arts and Lead for Culture Box Surrey
Contents
Surrey Music Hub Conference
Singing Picnics 2023
Secondary School Young Leaders
Primary Music Curriculum Evaluation Tool
Secondary music advisory group
CPD Training
Royal Opera House Create and Sing
Vacancies: Surrey Music Hub Board independent chair
Surrey Music Hub Conference: Wednesday 21 June 2023, University of Surrey, Guildford
Surrey Music Hub Conference 2023 advert
Surrey Music Hub Conference 2023 is focused around the theme of the new National Plan for Music. We take the new music strategy’s aims to heart, working with all Surrey Schools to use the Power of Music to Change Lives. There will be strands of content for all specialist and non-specialist teachers from primary, secondary and special school settings, built around active workshops, forums, discussion groups and focused surgeries with content led by leading national providers, alongside our own highly skilled music leaders from Surrey. There will be a parallel conference for our ‘youth delegates’ who will learn alongside teachers, take part in performances and reflect on what their music education means to them.
The conference will take place in the magnificent setting of the University of Surrey with lunch and refreshments provided throughout the day.
‘We are really excited to relaunch our school’s conference, highlighting the superb music provision we have in Surrey. It has been a long time since our last large-scale face to face event in 2018 and much has changed in the music education landscape since then. The conference will be a wonderful chance to regroup, share best practice and further develop our skills. We hope the day will provide inspiration to ensure young people in our area have the best outcomes possible.’ Sarah Lee, Surrey Music Hub Chair and Service Lead for Surrey Arts.
Singing Picnics are back for 2023 and places are filling up quickly! We have places available at our Singing Picnics in Runnymede (28 June), Mole Valley (29 June), Woking (4 July), Redhill (6 July) and Lingfield (11 July). Places are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, so if you’d like your KS2 children (year groups 3-5) to join us for singing in the sunshine have a look at our website for details of how to apply: Singing Picnics – Surrey Music Hub
Secondary School Young Leaders – We have places available at five of our Singing Picnics for secondary school Young Song Leaders to help lead younger children in singing games alongside our professional team of vocal tutors. For more information, contact Nancy Gillio-Terry, Vocal Strategy Manager at nancy.gillioterry@surreycc.gov.uk
Primary Music Curriculum Evaluation Tool
Working alongside our advisory group of music teachers to help you evaluate the music curriculum at your school, please find attached to this newsletter, our Primary Music Curriculum Evaluation Tool.
This document aims to help you set development targets to improve music provision at your school. It covers all the aims set out in the National Plan for Music Education 2022 as well as linking to aspirations from the DfE’s Model Music Curriculum and of course the National Curriculum for Music.
The document descriptors are set at a high level, and will provide challenges for all schools, even those who already have very successful music teaching taking place.
We hope that this tool will be invaluable in helping you define your own school music development plan (as stipulated in the National Plan for Music Education).
How to use the Primary Curriculum Evaluation Tool
The Tool is a word document which you can edit. We would suggest highlighting descriptors which match your school’s provision and find the best fit level for your school in each development area.
We would strongly advise reflecting on your school’s provision with a reflective partner. This could be a member of SLT or a governor from your own school, a music leader from another school, or a member Surrey Arts School’s team. Please get in contact if you would like help in finding an external reflective partner
– When you have completed your own evaluation we would suggest sharing results with us at Surrey Arts so that we can compare outcomes for schools and help put in place support to help schools in their development goals.
We hope you find this document useful. Please get in contact if you would like to discuss any aspect of the evaluation tool or provide feedback on the document.
Secondary music advisory group
Surrey Arts, on behalf of Surrey Music Hub, is seeking to establish a small group of secondary / special school music teachers who will be able to help steer the support that the Music Hub offers to schools and post-16 settings. This might, for example, include prioritising what kind of support is offered, requesting training sessions, piloting new projects and facilitating peer support relationships between schools. How this group meets can partly be defined by the group members, but we expect it would involve a minimum termly online meeting, as well as follow up interactions and communications online.
We are looking for enthusiastic and effective practitioners from differing school contexts. If possible, we hope that group members will be able to speak on behalf of colleagues across Surrey schools and so experience of leading a department, and of working in different contexts will be helpful, though not essential. We are keen to include teachers with expertise in working with children with additional needs and disabilities, and we will welcome expressions of interest from special school colleagues and alternative settings.
If you would be interested in joining this group, please send a short expression of interest (max 200 words), by Tuesday 28th February saying why you would like to be involved to: john.stephens@surreycc.gov.uk . We hope that this will be a good professional development opportunity for participants, and we recommend that you liaise with your SLT if you are considering applying.
CPD
New Approaches for Recorder in the Classroom
Wednesday 22 February 16.00-17.30 at Danetree Primary School,Danetree Road, West Ewell. KT19 9SE
Audience all primary teachers, both specialist and non-specialist
Session leader: Sian Greenhalf
The recorder: easily accessible and cost effective – a great way to start pupils on their instrumental learning journey! However, how on earth do you make a class of 30 recorders sound like a symphony of angels rather than a device of torture? This training will cover basic techniques for establishing the best sound, fun and engaging activities for practicing breath control and troubleshooting when sound production isn’t going right.
Now that you’ve started learning the music for the Primary Music Festivals with your children, how do you take their singing to the next level? What tips and tricks will help your children to learn all the music off by heart, learn parts and sing with confidence? This session will provide some answers and ideas for your rehearsals and also look at how you can build on your choir’s learning to create your own in-school concerts.
The session will include time to focus on particular aspects of the Primary Festivals music which teachers have requested help with. If you would like us to focus on a section of this year’s Festival music, please tell us when you register (no later than 20 Feb).
This session will provide an opportunity to develop your skills and confidence in delivering simple songs and instrumental work with very young children. We will also look at ways of encouraging musical play, supporting it through adult interactions with children, and ways settings can celebrate children’s musical achievements.
Participants will:
· Gain skills in learning a few appropriate rhymes and simple songs to develop very young children’s musicality
· Develop skills to notice and support very young children’s music-making in all areas of your setting
· Watch and discuss young children’s spontaneous music making and look at ways adults might play creatively with them
Discuss theoretical information to inform and support our practice, with a brief over-view of musical development of very young children and the benefits of music making in the early years.
Creating a primary school music development plan with the Surrey Curriculum Evaluation Tool
Tuesday 7 March 16.00-17.30 via Zoom
Audience all primary teachers, both specialist and non-specialist
Session leader: Alex Bondonno
The National Plan for Music Education indicates that all schools should have a music development plan in place by Sept 2023. This session will guide you through approaches to putting a plan in place using the Surrey Music Curriculum Evaluation Tool as a guide. This will be a discursive session where you can reflect on your development goals working in groups with other teachers.
Held in partnership with Surrey Music Hub, venue TBC
No previous experience of music or drama is needed for teachers to take part.
Once you have completed the Create and Sing CPD training, you are invited to use the resources with your class in the way that best suits you.
Easy to deliver across a half term
Once your training is complete you will receive termly invites to our optional interactive digital workshops, led by Royal Opera House artists, which bookend our flexible 5 lesson scheme of work. To take part in the summer term:
Online Live rehearsal: Thursday 25 May, 10.45–11.30 see opera singers rehearse The Magic Flute, ask questions and be introduced to their creative process (no pre-teaching needed)
Online Culmination: Tuesday 5 July, 10.00–11.00 join ROH artists and other schools around the country, for a fun celebration to share what you have learnt and create something new together
Growth spurts during puberty bring about a period of extraordinary physical growth for both girls and boys. This growth extends to the larynx, causing a dramatic effect in boys’ voices; girls’ voices also undergo a period of more subtle, but often noticeable, change. Teenagers find that their singing range completely alters and their voice becomes unpredictable, leading to frustration, self-consciousness and ultimately a lack of confidence and reluctance to sing.
This workshop will provide participants with a clear explanation of the effects of pubertal growth on both boys’ and girls’ voices and the vocal difficulties that are frequently faced by teenagers and those undergoing hormonal change. It will also outline a number of practical strategies and approaches in order to equip teachers and choir directors with ideas for creating an inclusive approach that aims to encourage young people to continue to engage with singing.
Suzanne Chadwick, MA (Music), MA (Voice Pedagogy), is a graduate of the University of St Andrews and the University of Wales Trinity St David. Based in Dublin, Suzanne is a passionate educator of young singers and combines her many years of performing and teaching experience with an active engagement in voice science and research. She is currently completing a PhD on the subject of the adolescent male voice, and also includes vocal registers, breathing methodology and vocal health in her research interests. Suzanne currently lectures in Voice Pedagogy at the University of Limerick and has presented research papers at conferences in the UK and Ireland.
Surrey Music Hub Board is recruiting for an independent chair
Surrey Music Hub (the Music Education Hub for Surrey) is seeking to appoint an Independent Chair. This is a voluntary position with an allowance of up to £3,000 per year for expenses.
We are looking for someone who is passionate about ensuring that all children and young people can access high quality music education opportunities that meet their needs. This role offers an opportunity for the right individual to make a difference to the lives of the children and young people of Surrey through music.
The postholder will chair the Hub’s Advisory Board, working alongside the Music Hub lead organisation, Surrey Arts, and partners to ensure and maintain the effective delivery of the new National Plan for Music Education (NPME) both in and out of school settings.
We have 2 part time vacancies within the team at Surrey Arts. The job adverts close at 23:59 on Sunday 12 February 2023, with interviews taking place on 21 or 23 February 2023.
Youth Music Activities Co-ordinator 3 days a week administrative and co-ordination role supporting the advanced ensembles and wider out of school activities.
The Surrey Music Hub Conference returns in 2023 on Wednesday 21 June, with an exciting programme at the University of Surrey in Guildford. The Conference is a fantastic opportunity for all music teachers and educators to reflect, refresh and re-invigorate their teaching practice. The programme will involve:
Inspirational speakers
Performances and music experiences
Primary & Secondary and SEND strands
High quality workshops, panels & networking.
Alex Bondonno, Curriculum Lead Teacher (Primary), says ‘We are so excited to be returning to putting on a conference, highlighting the superb music provision we have in Surrey, and helping to take it to even higher levels. It has been a long time since our last large scale face to face event in 2018 and much has changed in the music education landscape since then. The new 2023 conference will be a wonderful chance to regroup and refresh our ideas and skills, and provide inspiration to enable us to give young people in our area the best musical outcomes possible.’ Alex Bondonno: Primary Lead Teacher, Surrey Arts
The 2023 Conference is focused around the theme of the new National Plan for Music. We take the new music strategy’s aims to heart, working with all Surrey Schools to use the ‘Power of Music to Change Lives’. There will be strands of content for all specialist and non-specialist teachers from primary, secondary and specialist settings, built around active workshops, forums, discussion groups and focused surgeries with content led by leading national providers, alongside our own highly skilled music leaders from Surrey. There will be a parallel conference for our ‘youth delegates’ who will learn alongside teachers, take part in performances and reflect on what their music education means to them.
Singing Picnics are back again this summer with dates, venues and registration now available. Surrey Arts has been hosting these informal singing events for primary schools across Surrey for the last few years giving young people the chance to sing and have fun together outdoors.
Vocal Strategy Manager, Nancy Giulio-Terry says “I’m delighted to announce the dates and venues for our 2023 Singing Picnics, including a return to many of our old favourite venues and as well as exciting new locations. We’re all looking forward to some singing in the sunshine!”
Singing Picnics are a fun-filled and informal way for KS2 children (yrs 3-5) from your school to enjoy singing with others in a beautiful outdoor setting with other schools from your area. Children play singing games, perform songs to each other, sing together, and enjoy a picnic lunch followed by more singing games.
Singing Picnics provide opportunities to:
Perform a song to others in an informal setting
Listen to the performances of others
Sing a group song learned by call and response on the day
Engage in singing games led by vocal tutors
Engage in healthy outdoor activities.
Children from schools prepare one song to share at the picnic and are taught other songs and singing games on the day by professional vocal leaders.
The Guildford Sinfonia Orchestra which has been running for over 20 years, will be starting 2023 under a new name and relaunch evening!! The ensemble which is for adult musicians, will be known as ‘The Surrey Arts Community Orchestra’, to better reflect their friendly and welcoming atmosphere and community ethos.
The orchestra started out based in Godalming, and then Guildford and now Woking. Conducted by Tanya Charlesworth, rehearsals take place at Westfield School in Woking on Thursday evenings during term time with an informal concert at the end of each term. Past performances have included Summer Sounds at Woking Bandstand, and a joint concert with Woking Wind Orchestra at the HG Wells Centre.
The ensemble plays a wide variety of repertoire, ranging from Baroque to the modern day, including film music, show songs and music from around the world.
The orchestra will be holding an open rehearsal on Thursday 12 January 2023 from 7.45 to 9.30pm at Westfield School, and players of any orchestral instruments are welcome, particularly trumpets, bassoons, trombones and strings. Players are recommended to be of grade 5 standard or above (although it is not necessary to have taken an exam). This is great opportunity for musicians who have not played for a while to get back playing and many of the current members dusted off their instruments after long breaks from playing and haven’t looked back!
Surrey Music Hub (the Music Hub for Surrey) is seeking to appoint an Independent Chair.
This is a voluntary position with an allowance of up to £3,000 for expenses.
You will be passionate about ensuring that all children and young people can access high quality music education opportunities that meet their needs. This role offers an opportunity for the right individual to make a difference to the lives of the children and young people of Surrey through music.
You will chair the Hub’s Advisory Board, working alongside the Music Hub lead organisation, Surrey Arts, and partners to ensure and maintain the effective delivery of the new National Plan for Music Education (NPME) both in and out of school settings.
The Independent Chair will need to have significant experience and expertise in partnership working and strategic thinking, business and budget monitoring and management. The chair will commit to developing a thorough knowledge and understanding of the needs of, and challenges for, children and young people, issues affecting Local Authorities and schools, Arts Council England/Department for Education policy relating to Music Education Hubs and the breadth of music providers working in Surrey. Experience in music/music education is not required as we are seeking to broaden the range of experience and skills to help drive our future development forward.
The chair role will run for a term of 3 years with an opportunity to be reappointed.
Surrey Arts, the Arts Service for Surrey County Council, is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and would especially welcome applications from the ‘global majority’, the LGBTQ+ community and people who are disabled.
For further queries please contact Sarah Lee, Head of Service, Surrey Arts sarah.lee@surreycc.gov.uk
Commitment: Four board meetings plus preparation per year; at least one meeting per year will be in-person. Other meetings as advised.
Context – Surrey Music Hub is a partnership led by Surrey Arts. It serves the local authority area of Surrey County Council with a total school population of 158,000 children, in 392 state maintained, academy and free schools (221 state maintained, 165 academy, 6 free schools including 8 pupil referral units), through music making and the arts and cultural offer. The lead partner in Surrey Music Hub is Surrey Arts, which is part of Surrey County Council (SCC) Cultural Services. The Hub is overseen by the Surrey Music Hub Steering Board, which is made up of partners and local stakeholders and is currently chaired by the Head of Surrey Arts.
Vision – “Changing lives through world class arts” Surrey Music Hub’s aim is to work in partnership to ensure that children and young people from all backgrounds receive music education that is high quality, wide ranging, sustainable and accessible to all and that there are clear routes for progression.
Mission – “Work in partnership to ensure that everyone in our community has access to high quality and engaging arts and cultural opportunities”.
Our Values Surrey Arts is an ambitious and forward-thinking organisation that places young people at the centre of our work. We are committed to developing Surrey Arts as a genuinely inclusive organisation, fostering a culture of belonging where all are respected and valued and one that meets the needs of the whole diverse community of Surrey. Equality, diversity and inclusion is central to our organisation and we are committed to its development at all levels of the organisation as outlined in our EDI strategy.
Surrey Music Hub is committed to delivering ‘The Power of Music to Change Lives’, the Government’s National Plan for Music Education, for all children and young people throughout Surrey. Surrey Music Hub performs all the current Core and Extension roles as set out by Arts Council England. These roles underpin all planning and musical activity that we offer.
Core roles of Surrey Music Hub:
Ensure that every child aged 5 to 18 has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through whole class ensemble teaching programmes.
Provide opportunities to play in ensembles and to perform from an early stage.
Ensure that clear progression routes are available and affordable to all young people.
Develop a singing strategy to ensure that every pupil is singing regularly, and that choirs and other vocal ensembles are available in the area.
Extension roles of Surrey Music Hub:
Offer Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to school staff, particularly in supporting schools to deliver music in the curriculum. Provide an instrument loan service, with discounts or free provision for those on low incomes. Provide access to large scale and/or high-quality music experiences for pupils, working with professional musicians and/or venues. This may include undertaking work to publicise the opportunities available to schools, parents/carers and students.
Offer Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to school staff, particularly in supporting schools to deliver music in the curriculum.
Provide an instrument loan service, with discounts or free provision for those on low incomes.
Provide access to large scale and/or high-quality music experiences for pupils, working with professional musicians and/or venues. This may include undertaking work to publicise the opportunities available to schools, parents/carers and students.
Surrey Arts has been successful in securing just under £100k of funding from Youth Music, for a 2-year programme of activity for displaced young people across Surrey. Youth Music is a national music charity that invest in music-making projects for young people and along with generous additional match funding from partners, Alliance for Better Care (NHS), Big Leaf Foundation and Arts Partnership Surrey, the funding will enable Surrey Arts to expand its current delivery programmes ensuring we are able to build on this worthwhile and much needed provision.
The project, which is fully funded for the next 2 years will be called I Speak Music:Next generation with the aim to improve participants’ musical skills, improve participants’ wellbeing and develop participants’ engagement within their host communities. The programme will include a range of activities including music lessons and both online and face to face music ensembles for children who have asylum-seeker or refugee status.
Project lead Jim Pinchen said ‘We are absolutely delighted that Youth Music have awarded Surrey Arts with this grant. The funding will allow us to expand our music programmes for children who are living in Surrey after being internationally displaced due of war, persecution and/or climate change.’
Sarah Lee, Service Manager for Surrey Art said “We are so proud of our work with displaced communities across Surrey, and this funding will have a huge impact in helping us to build a programme that reaches more young people and is lasting. We are hugely grateful to Youth Music and our local partners for their support and for providing funding”.
Surrey Arts inclusion music teacher Raghad Haddad has won the Inspirational Music Leader Award at the Youth Music Awards 2022. Raghad received her award last night in TroxyLondon in recognition of her work for Surrey Arts as a diverse leader of refugee background, supporting vulnerable children in Surrey.
Raghad Haddad is a viola player from Yabroud, a small town in the mountains north of Damascus. Since being granted asylum in the UK in 2018 she has performed at numerous charity events in London and Brighton and recently performed with Damon Albarn, The Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians.
On behalf of Surrey Arts Raghad has worked on multiple projects supporting vulnerable children including SEND and refugee children and has been the executive producer of a major international music project involving the United Nations and 120 participants from around the world.
After finding out she was had won the award, Raghad said “I was speechless when they announced my name as the winner of the Inspirational Music Leader at the Youth Music Award 2022 this week! It’s such an honour to have received this award and I’m so grateful to my colleagues at Surrey Arts for the support they have given me since I arrived in the UK from Syria. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, not only to rebuild my own life but also the privilege to help others affected by war, poverty, climate change and discrimination. Sadly, the need to support displaced communities is not getting smaller and I look forward to supporting more of your transformational projects in the months and years ahead.”
Kavyan Hajirostami has also been nominated for the Young Leader Award for their work with Big Leaf. Big Leaf support Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) across Surrey and work closely with Surrey Arts on a range of music and arts projects. You can find more information about Big Leaf here https://www.bigleaffoundation.org.uk/
Inclusion Manager Jim Pinchen said “I first met Raghad when she arrived in the UK from Syria 5 years ago and Kavyan through the I Speak Music Orchestra in 2019 shortly after his arrival from Iran. Between them they have used their musical expertise, language and generosity to support hundreds of our most vulnerable children. This recognition on a national stage is well deserved”. Surrey Arts Head of Service, Sarah Lee said “Surrey Arts is delighted to have played a part in supporting the development of these astounding music leaders. We would like to thank Youth Music for their continued support and for our most recent funding application success which will allow us to develop more project to support displaced communities and professional across the county”
The Primary Music Festivals are a highly regarded event in the school calendar with close to 100 schools taking part each year in celebration of children’s singing and music making!
The Festival concerts have been running for over 25 years and produce magical evenings for primary school children to come together and sing as one large choir in front of packed audiences in Surrey venues such as Dorking Halls.
Following the success of 2022’s wonderful programme of music including “My Planet, Your Planet”, by composer Teresa Jennings, the 2023 concerts will feature another new piece by Teresa Jennings entitled “Positive” about how we can all make positive contributions to our own lives and the lives of others around us with positive, thoughtful, and kind words and actions.
Applications open soon and scores will be made available from mid-November. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t delay — join us at one of our 9 events for schools in the following areas:
