Services For Education
Enabling thousands of Birmingham schoolchildren to learn an instrument and play music together
In diverse areas such as Birmingham, language and culture can often be barriers to community cohesion and integration. The city’s 32,000 primary school pupils come from 87 different ethnic groups, speak 108 languages, and 40% of pupils don’t have English as their mother tongue. But music is a universal language, appreciated across all cultures, bringing people together.
Services For Education’s Music Service works with 98% of Birmingham schools, teaching music to nearly 32,000 children and loaning 27,000 free musical instruments. The charity also runs 113 free ensembles at schools – supporting 4,000 young musicians to develop their talents in a variety of genres such as jazz, rock, soul, reggae, hip-hop and electronic, playing instruments ranging from brass, string and woodwind to djembe, harmonium and sitar.
Ensemble members are nurtured and supported by skilled professional tutors and conductors, developing their confidence and musical abilities, and are given performance opportunities in premier venues such as Birmingham Symphony Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Albert Hall.
Tutors also offer training to school staff, sharing expertise in ensemble direction, repertoire selection, and performance preparation. This knowledge transfer builds capacity, enabling schools to develop and sustain their own thriving music programmes.
The ensembles, which have nearly trebled in number over the last six years, have become integral to school communities. Regular performances at school events, assemblies and celebrations elevate the profile of music within schools, inspiring other students to participate and creating a culture where musical achievement is celebrated alongside academic and sporting success.
Furthermore, in 2018, Services For Education developed the Music Cares programme, providing care-experienced pupils with one-to-one lessons on an instrument of their choice. These specially tailored courses with lessons on a weekly basis have grown from just 20 children in the pilot year to over 100 pupils today.
The ensembles cost from between £150 to £350 per musician and Music Cares costs £60,000 a year. Services For Education receives no direct government funding, with support coming instead from funding bodies such as Arts Council England, and fundraising efforts by parents and pupils.
Charity Awards judge Karin Woodley, CEO of Cambridge House, said it was wonderful to see music education being made available to children across the state school system, when too often it remains the preserve of private schools, as engaging in artistic expression can really elevate a child’s self-confidence and open new avenues of opportunity to them.
Awards judge Cathy Phelan, owner and chair of Civil Society Media, said the project’s impact was “off the scale” and she was particularly moved by the special intervention for children in the care system.
CC reg. no. 1148848