This 15 minute film is part of the five 'Best Practice' case studies made to accompany the 2012 Ofsted report into Music Education ('Music in schools: wider still, and wider')... Whitefield Schools and Centre in NE London is the largest special school in Europe with more than 300 pupils on roll with a wide range of Special Educational Needs. The film shows a range of musical activities catering for the varied musical interest and needs of the children who attend the school.
EYFS (Early Years Foundation stage)
Disabling barriers to formal music education - consultation
By dougbott - 08/03/2012In Autumn 2011, DM Education carried out a nationwide consultation into disabling barriers to formal music education. The consultation findings are posted here in the 'Experiences' section of the DM Education web pages becuase they represent a signficant insight into the experiences of the SEN/Disabled young people / musicians, teachers and music educators who shared their views.
Music and the Deaf - Keys to Music Guides
By Danny Lane - 08/11/2011We are regularly asked for advice on how to deliver music and the arts to deaf children. In response to this - the "Keys to Music" series were developed and published. These user-friendly guides were devised to help teachers and parents to fully include and involve hearing-impaired chiuldren in music and the arts. The existing National Curriculum schemes of work were adapted to suit the needs of hearing-impaired children and were researched in a range of schools to assess the improvement in accessibility of the arts curriculum to deaf pupils.
P Scales Level Descriptors
By Alex Ivanovich - 27/10/2011P Scales are a format for assessing progress for students who are operating below National Curriculum Level 1. This useful document (which can be downloaded as a pdf file here) describes how to assess what level a student is at for a wide range of subjects. Level descriptors for music are on pages 27-29.
Skoog resources
By skoogmusic - 27/09/2011Here's a whole bunch of lesson plans for using the Skoog in the classroom as part of the music curriculum from Early Years to KS4.
The Skoog is an exciting new musical instrument designed to empower those unable to play traditional instruments. The Skoog is a soft, squeezable object that simply plugs straight into your computer or laptop's USB port. By touching, pressing, squashing, twisting or tapping the Skoog you can play a wide range of instruments, intuitively.
Making the music curriculum more accessible in Gloucestershire Special Schools
By Alex Ivanovich - 19/09/2011In the summer term 2010, I was given the opportunity to visit every special school in Gloucestershire on behalf of Gloucestershire Music Service (GMS). I was tasked with assessing each school’s needs in terms of accessible music resources and training, in order to improve access to the music curriculum in each school. GMS also set aside Wider Opportunities funding to buy new instruments and music resources for each special school in the county.
Clicker 5 music resources at Learning Grids World
By dougbott - 19/09/2011Learning Grids World is website where any registered Clicker 5 software user can create an account to download and share Clicker 5 Grid Sets for free. Clicker 5 is increasingly being used to make music accessible to SEN/Disabled learners across the curriculum. Clicker 5 can be accessed using switches, touch screens, joysticks, trackballs and any other means of control, in addition to the conventional computer keyboard and mouse.
MIDI Grid 'Grid Play' software resources
By dougbott - 05/09/2011The Full Pitcher have produced music resources for MIDI Grid music software. MIDI Grid is accessible to disabled people using almost any means of computer access - switch, joystick, trackball, SmartNav, Eye-gaze etc.
There are two sets of 'Grid Play' resources available either on CD Rom or to download:
Figurenotes
By dougbott - 05/09/2011Figurenotes is an alternative to conventional musical notation which has been used successfully by young people with learning difficulties (including some on the autistic spectrum) in Finland and Scotland. Figurenotes can enable the use of notation within formal music education where conventional notation might otherwise present a barrier.
RNIB Music Advisory Service
By dougbott - 04/09/2011The RNIB Music Advisory Service (MAS) is an information resource for people with sight problems. The MAS web-page contains information and advice on music education at all levels, from the earliest signs of interest to advanced studies. The MAS team can also be contacted direct via telephone or email - see the web-page for contact details.