Funding for 2024-25

Due to the change in the hub structure, Leeds Music Education Partnership (LMEP) will no longer exist as the Leeds music hub and instead ArtForms will be a lead partner in the new West Yorkshire hub. This means that moving forwards, our schools offer and all communications relating to it will come from ArtForms, rather than LMEP.  You can find out more information about the new hub here.

We are now delighted to be able to confirm that all Cashback and bursary offers are available for schools buying in ArtForms provision starting September 2024.

The change in hub structure means that previous LMEP partners will not be entitled to the cashbacks they have had access to previously. From September 2024, schools that buy in whole class provision from The Diocese of Leeds will be able to apply for cashback support directly from the Diocese as ArtForms will no longer be handling these applications.  Schools that buy in music provision from Roundhay Music will be able to apply for cashback via ArtForms for the Autumn term only. From January 2025, ArtForms will no longer be able to support cashback requests for these schools.  This is due to the changes in hub partners and funding allocations.

Please see below our new offer for schools, which includes information about the latest subsidies and support for Leeds schools, and the new cashback and bursary forms which will need to be used for all applications made from September 2024.

ArtForms offer to schools 2024-25

Click here to download your cashback and bursary application forms.

Join us at Pudsey Civic Hall on April 18th for an exciting percussion extravaganza tailored for Grade 1+ percussion players from Year 7 and upwards! Get ready to unleash your inner beats as we explore a wide array of percussion instruments under the expert guidance of Jordan Ashman, BBC Young Musician of the Year 2022. You will have a chance to workshop on orchestral percussion and dhol and taiko drums.

Throughout the day, participants will have the opportunity to try their hand at various instruments, learn essential techniques, and expand their musical horizons. Alongside honing their skills, attendees will also gain valuable insights into different percussion styles and cultures, fostering a deeper appreciation for the art form.

To sign up for the day, please complete this google form – Percussion Day Permission Form

You will need to seek permission from your child’s school please use the letter here:

https://artformsleeds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Percussion-day-letter-to-parents-1.pdf

Any enquiries, please email educ.artforms@leeds.gov.uk.

On Friday 15^th March we are hosting the return of our secondary singing day which in previous years has featured Mark De-Lisser (2018) and Craig Lees (2019).  Craig is now returning for the first secondary vocal day since COVID. This is partly in response to feedback from our LMEP Secondary Music Leaders Network sessions where requests for more, high level singing opportunities for secondary school students and the chance for schools to sing collaboratively, were requested by Heads of Music in Leeds.

The need to improve both the amount of singing and the opportunities to sing more demanding repertoire is supported by the recent Music Subject Report from Ofsted which stated that – The strongest aspect of the curriculum in primary schools was teaching pupils to sing. In secondary schools, curriculum content that developed pupils’ singing and vocal work was far rarer. Singing was a significant aspect of the curriculum in only a very small number of secondary schools. Most secondary schools did not build on the strong progress and enjoyment that pupils had experienced in their singing at primary school.

All secondary schools in Leeds are invited to take part in this event for individual singers and choirs from Yr 9 up to Yr 13. The structure of the day will be to learn 2 pop song arrangements in multiple parts and then to perform them en masse at the end of the day. Regular breaks will be planned throughout the workshop to protect voices. All participating schools will be provided with sheet music of Craig’s arrangements so that choirs can perform them back in school and/or groups of singers can rehearse their parts and record for exam coursework submissions. This event is fully funded by LMEP, with no charge to Leeds schools. Book tickets here. For more information please contact Jane.Roe@leeds.gov.uk.

Please note that as this event is fully funded, students will be expected to bring their own lunch and refreshments.

Craig is a Contemporary Vocal Coach, Choral Director, and Arranger. He is a Senior Lecturer on the Popular Music Degree at Leeds College of Music. To read more about his career, see his biography here.

Leeds Conservatoire are also offering discounted tickets to all students and staff involved in the secondary vocal workshop for the following events –

‘The Road to Joy’ Contemporary Pop choir concert: Thursday 21 March, 7.30PM, The Venue

‘The Road to Joy’ Contemporary Pop choir concert: Friday 22 March, 7.30PM, The Venue

For more information please contact Jane.Roe@leeds.gov.uk

A case study about providing opportunities for children to play music together

At 3pm on a wet Tuesday afternoon, 20 KS2 children gathered excitedly with their instruments – violin, viola, cello, recorder, fife, clarinet, glockenspiel and untuned percussion – to play together for the first time, all whilst being filmed and in front of their parents. The pressure was on but, as children do, they rose to the occasion magnificently, playing confidently, enthusiastically and musically. On the day I had the pleasure of working with some Year 5 children who have only been playing clarinet for a few weeks, learning with the rest of their class as part of the whole class instrumental programme. They asked if they could play in the orchestra every week, they enjoyed it so much!

The idea for this orchestra project was sparked following an Arts club that Leeds Music Education Partnership funded through its Innovative Activity Programme. Although all genres were explored in the club, the children expressed a real desire to learn to play musical instruments together and so the next challenge was how to fund this. Jane Hurst, Music Leader from Middleton Primary heard about Music for All through a Primary Music Leaders Network meeting and, following a successful application, was granted funding to pay for instruments and specialist tuition. This is enabling the school to provide whole class and small group teaching and funding the ensemble leader for the year.

Music for All are delighted to be able to offer financial awards as well as donations of instruments for a variety of groups providing music education or music-making opportunities in certain categories. Their current round of funding is open and applications should be made by 8am on Monday 18th December. Find out more.

Paula Brookes, Head of Service, ArtForms Music

As per last year, schools have a choice between membership to Sing Up, or a licence for either Charanga or Sparkyard from Out of the Ark.   Each Leeds primary school is entitled to one of the three platforms, fully subsidised by LMEP for the 2023-24 academic year.  Here is a summary of what each platform offers:

1) Charanga

https://charanga.com/site/

• Charanga membership provides a vast library of resources, songs, instrumental courses and creative apps.
• These include two, week by week schemes for each primary year group, for a full year.  Their latest scheme is informed by the Model Music Curriculum.
• The schemes come with lesson plans showing clear progression and interactive resources for every lesson.
• This platform provides the resources and support to enable non-specialist teachers to deliver Music lessons independently.

2) Sing Up!

https://www.singup.org/

• Sing Up has an extensive catalogue of established and commercially successful songs expertly arranged for young voices.
• The songs come with high quality backing and performance tracks as well as sheet music and an interactive white board mode.
• Membership gives you access to all their songs as well as teaching resources and support materials including their new Sing Up Music Units for every year group.
• This is not only excellent for teaching but also to provide material and accompaniment for singing assemblies.
• The breadth of the Sing Up catalogue is a real selling point.

3) Sparkyard – Out of the Ark

https://www.sparkyard.com/

• Out of the Ark write their own excellent songs specifically for schools.
• Their catalogue includes bespoke songs for all areas of the curriculum, and for assemblies and school productions.
• The new platform includes an innovative, skills-based music curriculum, that is flexible and easy to deliver from Reception right up to Yr 6.
• Sparkyard lesson plans include: simple, easy-to-follow steps, fabulous songs, assessment suggestions, listening examples from a diverse range of genres and musical periods, demonstration videos and audio clips, glossary and list of key vocabulary, coverage of the inter-related dimensions of music and National Curriculum requirements, printable resources for download.

Each of these three packages have something different to offer to support schools.

To order the platform you wish to use for the next academic year please email LMEP.ArtForms@leeds.gov.uk by Friday 21^st July 2023.

We have a finite number of licences for each platform and they will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

Requests made after 21^st July will be considered depending on availability.

Wednesday 21^st June 2023 saw the Celebration Concert at Leeds Arena funded by Leeds Music Education Partnership (LMEP) and led by ArtForms Music.  The event was a huge success, featuring over 700 children and young people from schools across Leeds.

The 2,000 strong audience were treated to performances from ArtForms’ flagship City of Leeds Youth Orchestra, Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra and Roots Alive, the ArtForms folk band.  In addition several LMEP Partners were featured including the DJ Schools’ Beat It Team with the Corpus Rappers and the Leeds Junior Conservatoire’s band, Hole In The Ceiling.

A big part of the work that LMEP and ArtForms offer Leeds schools are the projects that provide new learning and performance opportunities in Music.  Our Taiko Project that has been running in Leeds secondary schools for 2 years now, provides teachers with training, resources including a scheme of work, and a full class set of Japanese Taiko drums.  At the Celebration Concert Cockburn School’s Thunder Taiko Drummers performed a fantastic piece called Kamaete after working with Jim Gaylard from the ArtForms percussion team.

The Taiko project for secondaries is part of Music Connect, our support programme for Music education in all Leeds schools.  It was originally delivered by our working partners, Louder Than Life who also run our Samba project for primaries.  The Celebration Concert opened with the specially commissioned Marching On Samba by Tim Brain featuring a samba band of 70 children from 3 different schools – Alwoodley Primary, and Cross Gates Primary – and featuring the Temple Moor drum group – Raven Percussion, and their light-up drum sticks.  A bold, loud, impressive way to start the show with a Samba groove just for Leeds.

The ArtForms Singing Strategy was brilliantly represented by the four different choirs featured in the event.  These were the Cockburn MAT Choir, The Woodkirk Upper School Choir, the choirs of Roundhay School and finally the Leeds Schools’ Choir featuring 400 children and young people from over 50 schools across Leeds.  The singing strategy is lead by our Choirs Co-ordinator, Claire Rivers and puts singing at the heart of Music education in Leeds.

This enormous choir, conducted by Jayne Leadbeater, took the lead role in our finale performance of The Future’s In Our Hands.  This song was commissioned by LMEP specifically for this event and written by our very own, Sarah Crowley who is the Events Co-ordinator for ArtForms.  Accompanied by the ArtForms house band, as well as the Youth Orchestra, the Jazz Rock Orchestra and the Samba Band this was a great way to finish off a great show with a big, big performance.

The Celebration Concert was the flagship event and centre piece of the annual, LMEP/Artforms Youth Music Festival.  For more information about events taking place across the city please click on the above link.

We are so proud of all the 700 children and young people involved in the Celebration Concert and of all the young musicians that we work with in Leeds.  Congratulations to them all for putting on such an impressive show.

Music Champion School status is awarded to any schools in Leeds who have made a significant impact on their pupils’ lives through their music offer and who have an outstanding commitment to music education. Recipients of the award receive a Music Mark membership (the strategic lead organisation in the UK for Music Education), a framed certificate, a large outdoor banner and a digital Music Champion logo to include on all school publicity. Champion Schools also have access to other music events and workshops provided by our partners during the year. This year, we will be inviting successful schools to accept the award at one of our Youth Music Summer Festival events in the city. The award will be reviewed every 3 years from the date you receive the status to maintain consistency across all Music Champion Schools.

There are currently 36 Music Champion Schools in Leeds including 26 Primary schools, 8 Secondary schools and two Special schools. Last year we were pleased to welcome Corpus Christi Primary, Farsley Springbank Primary, Highfield Primary, Low Road Primary, Stanningley Primary and Windmill Primary.

Some comments from Music Champion school colleagues:

‘Achieving Music Champion Status shows just how much we value music in our school’

‘It has been a joy to watch the school grow in musical stature over the years and develop our music offer to all children’

‘The Arts are much valued in our school and music plays a huge part in it maintaining a high profile.’

‘Music has always been at the heart of our school, creating a strong community’

If you would like more information about becoming a Champion Music School, please contact LMEP.ArtForms@leeds.gov.uk .

All nominations for this year’s award should be submitted by Thursday 25^th May 2023.

The LMEP Singing Challenge Is Back!

The Singing Challenge is an opportunity for all Primary and Secondary schools in Leeds to learn and perform a brand new original song, specially commissioned by Leeds Music Education Partnership, called The Future’s In Our Hands. This will be the finale of the Leeds Youth Music Festival Concert at Leeds Arena on 21^st June 2023.

To take part in the Singing Challenge schools are required to video a performance of your children singing the song to submit to ArtForms. A carefully selected combination of these recordings will be edited together to form part of the video that is broadcast during the Arena concert. The more creative the performance, the better! Schools will then have the opportunity to bring children to the Arena event to see themselves performing on the big screen.

Access resources now!

The Singing Challenge video entries are to be submitted by Friday 26^th May.

The Leeds Youth Music Festival Concert is at Leeds Arena on Wednesday 21^st June.

Friday 19 May
9:00-3:00
Pudsey Civic Hall

Music Connect is our programme of curriculum support for Music Leaders in all Leeds schools.  The termly Music Leaders Network is an important part of Music Connect, bringing Music Leaders together from primary schools across Leeds to discuss the latest developments in Music Education.

Since the start of the pandemic our network meetings moved online, increasing attendance due to the convenience of accessing a twilight session from school or home.  However, we really value face to face events for Music Leaders to truly network which is why we have created the new conference.

This first Music Leaders Conference will include –

A Keynote Speech from Christopher Stevens – Ofsted’s Schools Specialist Adviser and Subject Lead for Music.

Followed by workshops from –
The Leeds International Piano Competition sharing the resources for their latest KS1 project – One Small Step.
Opera North on simple, effective composition techniques for teachers with little or no background in music.
Opera North on healthy use of the voice for KS1-2, how to warm up and when to push dynamic and repertoire selection.
Leeds Lieder on engaging with classical music including songs in foreign language and encouraging creative minds and imaginative listening.

Music Connect receives funding from LMEP which enables ArtForms to offer the programme to Leeds Schools and Academies at no charge.

Sign up here – Primary Music Leaders Conference.