Equality impact assessment - Wiltshire music service

Please tell us what you think about our website, we welcome your feedback.

Customer notice

Due to essential maintenance some of our web services will be unavailable between these times 7pm Friday 25 May and 5pm Sunday 27 May 2012.

1. What is the name of the function, policy or service that is being assessed?

Wiltshire Music Service

2. What are the aims of the function, policy or service? Whose needs it is designed to meet? What are the current priorities?

Wiltshire Music Service exists to support schools in the development of music education of the highest quality, which is accessible to all.

Wiltshire Music Service contributes to school improvement by providing:

• high quality instrumental and vocal tuition;
• Wider Opportunities Programmes - giving access to music for all;
• curriculum support for music;
• workshops and demonstrations for the schools;
• a wide range of group music making activities for young people;
• special music projects;
• a range of high quality performance opportunities;

Wiltshire Music Service is dedicated to 'raising standards' in schools and maximising the potential of young people within the county of Wiltshire.

3. In what ways might this function, policy or service affect some groups of people differently? Might some groups find it harder to access the service? Do some groups have particular needs that are not well met by the current policy or service?

Economic deprivation

The Music Service responds to demand from schools who in turn respond to the demands of their pupils. In most schools the cost of tuition is passed on to families which is likely to affect some families more acutely than others.

The Music Service makes charges directly to families for music centre groups. A fee remission policy is in place. Families in receipt of state benefits are eligible for complete remission of fees. Families with more than one child involved in Music Service activity are eligible for a discount. All Music Service Young Musicians clubs have an active ‘friends’ association who fund-raise to provide bursaries so that no young person is excluded form full participation in the club activity.

New regulations on charging for music lessons came into force in September 2007 which will enable schools for take steps to alleviate hardship. This includes allowing an increase in group sizes, thus sharing the cost among more families and a recommendation that schools should have a remission of fees policy in place.

Wiltshire Music Service will review its own remission of fees policy in light of the new regulations and will notify schools of the new regulations.

WMS will review the guidance to schools contained in its booklet ‘Making Music Matter’, on the legislation regarding charging for instrumental/vocal lessons, including reference to remission of fees.

Wider opportunities

Over time Wider Opportunities Programmes will give all KS2 pupils one year of high quality practical music making activity free of charge.

In the majority of schools pupils who wish to continue learning an instrument will be required to contribute to the cost of tuition. Restrictions on the size of groups for instrumental tuition have recently been lifted and larger groups will allow schools to share the cost between more pupils and to reduce the cost for individual.

Instrument loan and purchase

Through a partnership arrangement with the Wiltshire Rural Music School, WMS lends free of charge 1600 instruments to pupils in schools taught by WMS teachers. This allows pupils to try an instrument before asking their families to purchase an instrument. Families experiencing economic hardship have access to the loan scheme over a longer period.

Through the DCSF/FMS instrument purchase scheme WMS will increase the number of instruments available for pupils. It is priority of the service to increase the number of instruments available for Wider Opportunities.

WMS offers an assisted instrument purchase scheme for pupils learning through the service. In 2006-7 112 pupils accessed the scheme giving savings to families of £4603.

4. What evidence do you have for your judgement? Is there evidence of public concern (e.g. complaints)? Have staff raised concerns? Is there local or national research to suggest that there could be a problem?

Economic hardship

Staff and schools are aware of the impact on pupils from economically deprived backgrounds. Anecdotal evidence says that some pupils give up music lessons because of the cost. A recent survey of a sample of pupils discontinuing lessons, cite cost as the second most influential factor in their decision.

DCSF surveys give national statistic for minority groups however at present WMS does not have sufficient data to inform a sound judgement on the impact on minority groups in Wiltshire.

WMS has been developing a pupil database over three years. The 2007-8 development plan includes a further develop of this database to link with Wiltshire’s central pupils’ database. This will allow us to access data on the number of pupils from the black and ethnic minorities, pupils with special needs and pupils entitled to free school meals that use the service.

Diversity

WMS has been working with the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service and local arts partners to provide music making activity specifically for children with black or dual heritage. EMAS has identified black and dual heritage pupils as at risk of underachievement. The music workshop days Arts-Vibes, are designed to boost self esteem, show positive role models and promote positive life choices. Funding has been made available from the Schools Branch Strategic Plan to fund further workshop days.

WMS ran a conference for staff on diversity in Sept 2007. Sixty five staff attended workshops on attitudes to diversity, Jamaican steel pans and Tibetan Singing Bowls. Further training will be offered in 2008.

WMS offers creative music workshop to school that use multi-cultural themes such as an African story to create music to link to literacy and using the mathematical concepts of Indonesian Gamelan to create music and link to mumeracy.

WMS has just secured £13,555 funding from Youth Music to deliver a project for Small Schools. Through the project pupils will be able to sing and compose songs as part of a piece of music theatre entitled ‘Everyman’s Land’. The work is issue based, with key themes embracing cultural diversity, cohesion within communities, the environment and working together to achieve peace as well asexploring issues around transient communities and refugees. The main message for the children is that we may all be different, but if we respect each other’s differences we can create a better world.

5. Who have you consulted with as part of your assessment? What were the results? Have you published the results of that consultation? If so, where?

WMS consults schools through Schools Services Board and Schools Forum. The Youth Development Service undertook a survey of attitudes of participants in the Arts-Vibes day 2007. The results are contained in the video evaluation of the day. This will be shared with young people and their families at the next Arts-Vibes day.

No formal consultation has taken place about the charges for instrumental/vocal lessons.

6. If you have found that the function, policy or service might have an adverse impact on a particular group of people, can you justify this?

WMS is a traded service and sets its charges as competitively as costs allow. WMS complies with current legal requirements when applying charges.

Wiltshire Council administers a number of trust funds to support young people from families experiencing economic stress. The Music Service supports young people in accessing these funds and a range of other funds designed to support young musicians.

7. If the impact cannot be justified, what do you intend to do about this? Are there changes that you could introduce which would make the function, policy or service work better for this group of people? Is further research or consultation required?

Improve the data available to allow a better assessment of the impact.

Work in partnership with Primary schools to facilitate/deliver Wider Opportunities Programmes giving pupils free access to at least one year of music making tuition.

Continue to working in partnership with the EMAS team and Arts-Vibes partners to increase access to music for young people of black or dual heritage including working with Wiltshire Music Centre on a three year strategy including staff training and participation projects to increase access to music across the BME community.

8. How will you monitor the take-up or impact of the function, policy or service in future?

Through analysis of the WMS data base when it is complete.

9. What actions do you plan to take as a result of this equality impact assessment? Please state any resource implications

• Improve quality of data.
• Continue with the measure outlined above.

10. There is a legal requirement to publish the outcomes of Equality Impact Assessments. Please outline how / where this will happen

11. Name of person completing form

Music Service Manager

Date assessment completed

September 2007

12. Senior manager approval

Assistant Director Schools

Date

04 October 2007

Last updated: 4 May 2010