Dear All,
Following on from the government announcement yesterday evening, Hampshire Music Service has revised its music provision for schools leading up to the February half term. I have copied the letter below from Jill Larner which has been sent out today, just in case you have not yet received it. Points 3 and 4 relate directly to secondary school provision.
Please do get in touch if you have any questions - shaun.riches@hants.gov.uk
From: Hampshire Music Service Sent: 05 January 2021 17:26 Subject: HMS Provision, January/February
Dear Colleague
In response to yesterday's Government lockdown instructions I'm writing to outline what we think is the best way forward for Hampshire Music Service provision until half term in February. We have spent today considering a number of options and tried hard to take into account feedback from schools following the previous lockdown in the summer term. Thank you very much to the headteacher colleagues who we asked for advice on the following strategy, your feedback was extremely helpful.
The fundamental principle, underpinning all our thinking, is that we are very much still "Open for Business" and really want music lessons to continue to be available for all pupils, whether they are in school or at home. Parents and schools have committed to making music a priority all year and we want there to be as little disruption as possible to children's musical learning.
We've very much taken on board the fact that schools and parents prefer to pay for what they receive. We also believe that our online teaching is now very well established and of a standard that equates to face to face tuition. Before the summer we were gearing up, using a system that was new to teachers and families. We have now had feedback that progress online is often at least as good and our teachers have invested a lot of time reflecting on and improving their "virtual" delivery.
I've tried to keep things as simple as possible, so we can mobilise things online quickly. I very much hope I can ask for your support in encouraging parents to sign up for lessons, so we can fit in as many sessions as possible before half term. The strategy outlined below is easily possible to continue after half term, should lockdown continue further than expected.
For this half term, we will only charge for provision that is received, in the following way:
1. School ensembles - no charge to schools for extracurricular ensemble time that is not used this half term.
2. Primary class teaching and Listen2Me - chargeable if you choose option 1 or 2 below. No charge for option 3.
Option 1 – continued provision in school with your HMS teacher. A live lesson in school for key worker and vulnerable children, which could be recorded or live streamed using school technology (e.g. an iPad) and shared for those learning at home. To safeguard the children in school the visuals could be restricted to showing the teacher and anything being projected on the white board only.
Option 2 – continued provision remotely with HMS teacher pre-recorded weekly lessons, to be accessed by pupils either in school or at home.
Option 3 – temporary suspension of provision for this half term
For both L2M and class lessons the focus for learning will be on key musical skills and understanding rather than on the development of instrumental skills at this time (i.e. we will not be teaching the ukulele as the children at home will not be able to access this).
Your HMS teacher will be making contact with you as soon as they are able to discuss your preferred options. Please note that vulnerable members of HMS staff may only be able to offer option two.
3. Secondary class teaching - chargeable if delivered, either in school or remotely.
4. Instrumental/Vocal teaching - We have tried to offer a straightforward option, based on take-up. For this half term we will charge schools a one-off amount, of £50 per pupil who takes up on-line teaching. These lessons can start any time from Monday 11 January and be weekly, in groups or individuals as appropriate. For many schools this will be a reduction in the normal amount paid to HMS per term, and you may wish to pass on a reduction to parents, through your usual school subsidy, or use of Pupil Premium. Schools will be charged at half term and we will provide you with the list of pupils registered. An alternative would be to continue charging parents as you would do usually, and refund as necessary at the end of the summer term, depending on the overall number of lessons received (e.g. if the number goes below say 30 lessons over the year). In this way parents see the year as a whole and not in separate half terms or on a lesson-by-lesson basis.
It may be possible for HMS teachers to teach in school if you prefer this to happen, so that key worker and vulnerable pupils can access lessons in school. If this happens it is likely that all teaching will need to be delivered from school (online for those at home), to enable the usual timetable to be followed. Again, this may depend if vulnerable members of staff are able to visit schools. Please liaise with your HMS teachers accordingly.
From tomorrow, Wednesday, please will you pass on the following information to parents. This will enable them to sign up quickly as we have simplified the previous system:
http://hantsmusic.org.uk/students
Username: hmsstudent
Password: learningzone
I am hugely grateful for your patience as we have responded to the recent rapidly changing landscape. I'm well aware of other music services that are suffering considerably at this time and I remain absolutely convinced that, working together, we can continue to ensure Hampshire's young people benefit from very high quality and enjoyable musical learning throughout this challenging time. Thank you very much indeed for your continued support. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time - 07977 594589.
Best wishes for all you are coping with.
Jill
Jill Larner
Head of Hampshire Music Service
Hampshire Music Service
(Lead partner of the Hampshire Music Education Hub) Rookwood Centre, Penshurst Way Eastleigh, Hampshire SO50 4RJ
Tel: 023 8065 2037 Fax: 023 8061 8241 music.service@hants.gov.uk