Our role in promoting inclusion in music
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
Haringey Music Service wants to create and maintain equity in music education for all children, young people, teachers and our community. We aim at embedding equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do. We are fully committed to furthering our work on EDI, and have produced a working strategy:
How we promote inclusion
We aim to make sure that every child in Haringey can join in with musical activities that matter to them. Children should be able to take part in music in a way that suits them.
We understand that lots of things can make this difficult. Everyone is different, children may have additional needs, or may live in circumstances which make it difficult for them to take part.
What we offer may not be familiar to parents/carers, or it may feel like these activities are not for them.
The cost of taking part may also be a barrier for some families. We aim to be better at finding out what people want and value in music making, when and where they want it, and how to let everyone know what is available.
We have signed the Talk into Action pledge (external link), promising to consider this in everything we do.
Our Inclusion Lead is Abi Munson.
Financial support for families
Young musicians who qualify for Free School Meals pay reduced fees for lesson and instrument hire. Ensembles and bands are free to attend.
Parents/carers can pay in instalments for lessons and ensembles.
We have limited bursaries for children where music will make a difference, and whose parents/carers cannot afford to pay for their music activities. Young musicians must be referred by their school or setting.
We have an Assisted Instrument Purchase Scheme, where we can buy new instruments with a discount and parents/carers can pay in interest free instalments.
Support in schools
Many primary schools in Haringey offer at least one year of free, whole-class instrumental lessons to each child and work with families to encourage young musicians to continue learning.
Young musicians can hire instruments if they live or are having lessons with Haringey Music Service.
Our primary and secondary schools work together to share information about young musicians musical achievements, challenges and needs as they change schools.
We work to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in everything we do. This might include looking at how the music curriculum reflects the young musicians in that school.
We work with families
We work hard to let parents/carers know what opportunities are available for their young musicians.
We offer help when entering young musicians for music exams and with choosing the best activities.
We share information about free and low-cost opportunities offered by our hub partners.
We ask children, young people and their parents/carers what they think about our activities.
Support for children with additional needs
We are looking for further funding to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to take part in our activities – this might be extra teachers or specially adapted musical instruments or equipment.
We are creating new musical opportunities for children whose special educational needs cannot be met within our existing ensembles.
We train teachers to work more effectively with young musicians.
We move from an inclusive approach to one of integration.
What we want to do next
Here are some actions:
- keep parents/ carers informed through regular communications
- contact parents/carers whose children’s lives could be transformed through taking part in music
- raise the profile of whole class performances on school websites
- celebrate the diversity of young musicians who take part in our activities
- fundraise to develop our activities and opportunities for young musicians with SEND
- commission new original music from female and global majority composers for our ensembles
- make links with communities which do not access our services to learn how we can change or add to what we offer to better serve these groups
- talk to more of children and young people to find out about their musical interests, to help us to improve what we offer