As part of the new West Yorkshire Music Hub, ArtForms is committed to supporting schools with their music development plans and to that end we have produced a bespoke, user friendly, ArtForms development plan template. This is designed to support primary schools at all stages of curriculum development including schools that have little or no music taking place, right up to the schools who already have a robust curriculum and co-curricular offer.

We are also able to offer a free music development consultation to all Leeds schools.  We can offer support and advice or sometimes just a second pair of eyes to look over your plans. If you would like a member of the ArtForms leadership team to visit your school, please either book through Leeds for Learning or email educ.artforms@leeds.gov.uk.  It is helpful if you could give some indication as to when the best days/times in the week would be for a visit.

The DfE have also created a template to support schools to publish a summary of their Music Development Plan on their website.  They worked with teachers and leaders at both primary and secondary level to design this.

These templates are not mandatory, and schools should feel free to adapt them or use their own format to publish on their websites.

Publishing a summary of their development plan will help schools to:

• raise awareness of their music development plan
• promote the school music offer to parents and prospective parents
• give greater opportunity for schools and music hubs to work together

ArtForms are always willing to work with Leeds schools.  Please send any queries or requests for music development reviews to educ.artforms@leeds.gov.uk.

Sam Mercer – Music Curriculum Support Manager, ArtForms

From September 2024 the West Yorkshire Music Hub replaces LMEP.

Although this funding goes some way to supporting extra music provision, we recognise that for some schools budgets are still very tight and more funding is needed to help deliver quality musical experiences. With this in mind, we have conducted a funding review to direct schools to find external funding streams. This is now on our website Funding Review (artformsleeds.co.uk)

We hope you find this information useful and feel encouraged to apply for further resources to enhance you music opportunities in school.

Please check the links to each website for further details of eligibility and how to apply, checking for any changes that may be made after publication of this report. West Yorkshire Music Hub cannot accept responsibility for any errors or changes made to the funds further to publication of this report.

Sarah Truscott – Assistant Head, ArtForms (WYMH)

Around a year ago it was announced that 5 current nearby hub areas (Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale) would be combining to form one large West Yorkshire Music Hub. Organisations were invited to tender to be the new Hub leads and the 5 current area hub leads worked together to submit a joint bid in the Autumn. Currently, we are still waiting to hear whether that bid has been successful and we expect to find out in April according to the government’s timeframe.

What this means for us in practice is that until we receive word that we have been successful in our bid, we are unable to be 100% sure about our LMEP offer for schools for next year. Usually by now, we would have released our LMEP offer for 24/25. We hope and expect that it will stay the same, retaining current levels of cashback subsidies but until we receive that final confirmation, we are unable to publish it in the usual timeframe.

For now, we ask that schools go ahead and book music provision on Leeds for Learning as usual for next year based on current levels of cashback and bursaries. We will then issue a quote as usual for the work based on next academic year’s prices. In the highly unlikely event that there is a change in the cashback levels for next year following the announcement in April, we would then contact all schools and they would have the option to adjust their booking as necessary. Thank you to all for your understanding in this matter, we will keep you updated as and when we hear any new information.

Lee Muncaster, Senior Curriculum Leader, ArtForms

A selection of performance videos showcase the ‘Live music in Schools’ ensembles, whilst our Music Nugget videos are a selection of fun, bite-sized activities for children to join in with, created by our experienced Extended Learning team. A different set of videos are released each Friday afternoon, and the links are made available for you to watch after this time at your own convenience.

For more information about this initiative, please email sarah.truscott@leeds.gov.uk

For the duration of this lockdown we have made a sample of those videos available on our YouTube channel to support all schools.

https://www.youtube.com/user/leedsartforms/playlists

If you would like further information regarding ArtForms offers for schools please follow this link: https://artformsleeds.co.uk/music/offers-for-schools-and-academies/

While we aren’t currently able to meet as normal, all music centres have sent out a Google Drive link with weekly lesson plans and resources that have been put together for each class. If you haven’t received this yet, please get in touch with your Head of Centre.

Wetherby Music Centre have also shared this lovely video from their staff – can you spot any familiar faces?

As well as this, Horsforth Music Centre‘s Concert Band have been very busy recording two songs in isolation. You can listen to them on the Facebook page.

North Leeds Music Centre continue to share daily musical inspiration from their twitter account – they have shared dozens of ways you can listen, engage, and get involved with music from home.

We also have more Home Learning resources here – free to use for both Music Centre members and those learning elsewhere!

• Lost your practise mojo? Check out this video of handy hints that the Brass and Woodwind team have created.
• If you need some tips for GCSE Composition, the National Curriculum team have got you covered.
• Why not start a family drumming circle, with this guide on making and playing your own djembe at home from the Steel Pan and Mixed Percussion team?
• Expand your repertoire with dozens of songs to learn and play from the Guitar and Ukulele team.
• If you’ve got two or more strings players in the house, why not try Mrs Smith’s trio for violin, viola and cello? Just look under the red or orange award on the Strings page.

You can find all of this and more on the Home Learning Resources page!

There are also playlists on the pages for the City of Leeds Youth Wind Orchestra and City of Leeds Youth Training Wind Orchestra. All of our City of Leeds Youth Music groups are currently paused, but if you’d like to find out more about joining when we return please email Catherine at educ.artforms@leeds.gov.uk.

We’re also loving today’s Google Doodle – a simple composition game that requires no knowledge of musical notation. What sounds can you create?

You can keep up with all of our Home Learning Resources here. We’re adding new lessons, exercises and practise pieces every week, so keep an eye out!

Other departments are also adding new resources each week, so please do keep an eye on our Music Home Learning Resources pages for more lessons, exercises and pieces to try. We’ve also added some sheet music for Over The Rainbow which we’re playing each Thursday at 8pm to show appreciation for all of the hard work our NHS workers are doing at the minute.

If you need some musical inspiration, why not check out North Leeds Music Centre who are sharing daily inspirational videos and links on their Twitter page. All Music Centre students should also have received an email with a link to online lessons developed specifically for their ensemble or class – if you haven’t had this, please get in touch with your Head of Centre – contact details can be found on each Music Centre page.