We have secured money from the Royal Warrant Holders’ Association charity fund, established by companies which hold royal warrants and specifically helps small local good causes with grants of up to £2,000.

Without funding like this, the opportunity to teach instrumental music in the way we do across the Trust would not exist. Music has become a major feature of life at our schools and we very much want to extend the opportunities across all our schools.  

We use primary level whole-class instrumental teaching to talent-spot children with the potential to benefit from further tuition.  This approach will now be deployed into primaries that feed into all our secondary schools.

The communal nature of playing music fits perfectly with our joined-up thinking across the Trust. 

Being a part of a Trust allows the schools to share resources and save money and another other advantage is that, when there isn’t a pandemic happening, we can enable pupils to play together, giving them a chance to meet others who share their interest, which leads to new friendships being formed.

The wider educational benefits of learning instrumental music are well known, which is why we are so keen to pursue it, despite the significant costs involved.

We want to expand until all children in our primary schools and those that feed into our secondary schools have the opportunity to learn to play an orchestral instrument. We aim to make the opportunity accessible to all children in the Trust's schools.