Restore the Music is a schools’ music charity providing funding via RTM School Grant Awards. These awards enable primary and secondary schools to purchase a wide range of musical instruments and equipment, creating well-stocked departments that reflect the range of interests, cultures and languages among their students.
Earlier this month we shared the news of Restore the Music’s latest funding round, delivering £160,000 in grant awards to the music departments of 10 state schools in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, reaching more than 8,000 pupils aged 4-18 and enabling vital access to nearly 1,000 instruments and resources.
Since inception in 2013, RTM has awarded over £2.7 million across over 160 state schools in the UK’s most deprived areas.
RTM funding gives the school’s head of music the freedom to choose which resources will be of most interest to their students, giving them a different way to communicate and express themselves. Accessing music allows young people to unlock their potential. Every kid deserves this opportunity.
We know that the Restore the Music solution works. It is already reversing the nationwide trend of declining music GCSE uptake.
Diane Stirling, senior music consultant at Harris Federation, says: “Nationally there has been a decline of 12% of entries at GCSE/BTEC music, with only 42% of state funded schools entering students for GCSE/BTEC music. At Harris we have seen a rise of just over 32% in numbers of entries, which is drastically bucking the trend. I can say with absolute confidence a huge part of this has been RTM
funding support.”
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RTM funding is also generating record-breaking uptake of further arts education – long-standing grantee Harris Academy Greenwich has 15 students taking A level music – that’s more than most private schools.
Our grant programme targets schools in areas steeped in poverty, long term unemployment, poor housing – RTM schools will have an average of 50-75% of their kids on free school meals. In these schools, the leadership has already recognised the need to deliver an education that embraces the rich cultural heritage and multilingual backgrounds of their students. For these schools, music is their universal language – the key uniting element.
But that’s not the whole story. The real point of this approach is a much wider outlook to address a much bigger problem. Which is: our kids are not going to school. Attendance levels are persistently low post Covid. A whole generation of young people risk missing out on an education.
It’s not rocket science to work out that a teenager who hates maths might be far more likely to go to school if they’ve also got music technology and drumming club on the same day.
As any headteacher will tell you, half the battle is getting the kids through the door. And that’s the point – a well-resourced music department for many schools is the hook that gets kids back on track in all subjects.
It is heartening to see there is growing concern. The government’s Plan for Change aims to break the link between background and success; the Department of Education last month announced it will be delivering a new package aimed to support young people to access high-quality arts education and enrichment activities.
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And last week, the Ed Sheeran Foundation wrote an open letter to the government advocating for more support and investment for music education in schools.
Given the positive impact of music education on whole school attendance, student engagement and attainment, it is very clear that music in schools is a must-have.
Polly Stepan is co-founder and CEO of Restore the Music.
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