Fundamental principles

When putting together any application for funding within or outside of your school or Multi-Academy Trust, it is worth considering these fundamentals, possibly even building on them as the foundation of your proposal:

A. Music Education is for everyone

Music will have an impact across the school, not just for those taking exam courses or who have extra vocal or instrument lessons. Highlight that whole school/community impact to underline the benefits that supporting music will have across the whole school.

B. Music Education includes much more than simply performing

Look at the different ways funding could impact everything you could do in Music, not just the numbers learning instruments or showcase events. Opportunities for students to engage in listening, composing and much more show the long-lasting impact that funding can have. Your project may find students who are fantastically creative but not necessarily performers -- perhaps composers who have only recently started learning to play an instrument or sing, for example.

C. Active participation in Music has other, non-musical, well documented benefits

There is a growing amount of evidence to demonstrate how participation in Music can have direct benefit to brain plasticity, ability to remember information, higher emotional intelligence, better communication and social skills, more effective teamwork and much, much more besides. There is a direct correlation between participation in Music and higher exam results at GCSE. To select just three studies: • Cambridge Assessment • Journal of Educational Psychology • Liberty University – a dissertation

D. Working in partnership with others can unlock opportunities

The more connections you have built between your Music Department and others, the more proof you have of your wider impact. This could be from other departments in the school to your local Hub Provider, other schools in your Trust or local authority, local Community/Borough/County Music groups to local Businesses, and everything in between. Demonstrating participation in such partnerships makes you a better investment and shows that Music is thriving in your school.

E. You are based in a local community – how can you

help them too?

Can you show how funding your project will have a wider impact? This is or could be key for some funders. Could what you are building be used by the public too? Are you going to be able to provide something that is not currently available in your area? Will your project increase opportunity for more than just your music students? If you are not aware of what’s going on in your local community, make sure you find out as it might be able to underline your bid(s).