Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

St Helens Music Education Hub's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy has initially been developed in conjunction with Simon Cousins, Equalities Officer, St Helens Borough Council using the 2021 Equality Framework for Local Government self-assessment template as a means of evidencing and considering the current position of the Music Service (as lead Hub partner) and the approach of the Hub as a whole to supporting young people's engagement and progression from a diverse range of socio-economic and geographical groups, as well as those from the range of protected and under-represented groups currently here in St Helens.

We intend over the coming year to further develop this strategy with key regional partners, already outlined within our partnership agreements, and through utilising additional opportunities, such as Borough of Culture, to widen participation and to explore new means of engaging a wider group of young people than we have done previously.

Careful consideration has been given to the makeup of our demographic using Local Insight to provide information about a range of key characteristics and issues affecting the people that live in St Helens. Through our analysis of this data, we realised the need to better collect and use information directly from our students and parents/cares to better understand, plan for, and deliver engaging and inclusive music-making activities. As such, this strategy is in its infancy and will develop over time from our initial priority for better data collection, analysis and use to allow for more empirically informed decision making.

However, we also realised there were so relatively easy quick wins to be made to our predominantly white, working-class community. By making small but important changes to the content of our curriculum offer and the projects we create, we would be more able to provide a greater diversity of musical genres and traditions that in turn would lead young people to have a better understanding of the wider world. The following sections outline both our commitment to best serve the young people of St Helens and how we plan to deliver this pledge.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Pledge and Priorities

Our pledge is to ensure that our workforce and service providers deliver accessible, safe, and inclusive services that enable all children and young people to engage and thrive as musical learners. This in turn makes our priority the need to ensure that we deliver an accessible, welcoming, and inclusive service for all. As a Hub we therefore welcome comments, suggestions, and feedback as to how all children and young people in St Helens feel this represents their experience of the services we provide.

Overview of the St Helens Music Education Hub strategy delivery

Our strategy sets out plan for building a culture of inclusive music education, where all children and young people are valued and recognised for their unique qualities, ideas, voices, and perspectives and where they can see the Hub providing a range of diverse musical opportunities and progression pathways. In completing the Audit process, we reached three conclusions of our work to date.

Firstly, that whilst we had always intended that our activities were open and accessible for all we had in the main come to this conclusion with, at times, little more than anecdotal evidence and so would require to find more effective means of collecting feedback from a more diverse and representative cross-section of users and non-sued of our services.

Secondly, we would need to greatly overhaul the types of data we collected about learners to better understand the demographic of our service users when compared to the demographical profile of the Borough. Finally, and most importantly, as a leadership team we realised that we this was an area of our work we had real passion for and that if we were to achieve our goals, we would need to embed key changes and actions into all aspects of our work. The overarching principles of the strategy are to:

• Work in partnership with schools, partner organisations and parents' groups to drive sustainable change to include any and all groups that feel unable to engage with through the current offer. This will include the exploration of different funding models to maximise income generation for the Hub whilst not creating new barriers for participation. This may include charges to schools for currently 'free' activities such as CPD and singing through a buy-in model and music centre membership with free concert tickets for members' families.
• Examine our staff and pupil diversity addressing gaps for under-represented demographics and work towards equalities and diversity at all levels of our organisation.
• Confront the assumptions made about whose voices are most valued in music education while involving those from under-represented groups.
• Empower and support staff to be positive role models for equality and diversity.
• Understand the impact of our work on all members of our communities and for our work to reflect the equality and diversity within these communities.
• Refresh and realign our approach to working with SEND young people, schools, and units.

The EDI Audit process highlighted several actions for us to consider and implement. The following summarises and groups these actions into related areas that will be monitored through our SMART targets.

1. A key function of the new database will be to greatly enhance our understanding of all groups that access out of school provision. Data will inform where there is under-representation through the suite of reports it is able to create. Consideration will need to be given prior to the database going live as to what data could/should we collect to best understand the characteristics/identity of the children we work with and to enable comparisons by variable measures. This should also include if possible:
   • Pupil data - equality profile needs to be part of the new database
   • Other data including outcomes at KS4/5 should be used to measure outcomes year on year
   • Annual Data return disaggregated by PP, gender and SEND to be measured and tracked year on year.
   • Reporting against Borough/Hub Area-wide demographics in order to identify areas of under-representation
2. Targeted interventions will be created to counteract identified gaps in provision and/or coverage.
3. Data sharing agreements are in place for key partners as schools move into larger Multi-Academy Trusts that cross local boundaries if required.
4. Human Resource management of employed Music Service staff have recently been transferred to MyView to allow information to be held within a single point. Therefore, need to ensure all staffing information is up to date and board members have completed the necessary data collection. Service recruitment is subject to all of the relevant legislation, polices and procedures set by St Helens Council that include guidance and controls that they are compliant with all aspects of the Equalities Act and other relevant legislation. Additionally, we will seek ensure that both staffing and board membership reflects the diverse nature of the communities we service including membership from protected characteristic groups.
5. Need to create a survey for all users and their parents/carers to better measure the experience and perception / satisfaction of its community and voluntary sector partners?
6. In preparation for the creation of this Strategy Music Service staff were asked to complete the Youth Music EDI audit. Training and information need to be provided to all as a result of the audit findings before the YM audit is rerun. This audit tool should also become part of staff induction to identify additional training and support needs for new staff members.
7. Whilst our curriculum is not limited to western traditional classical music. It introduces and celebrates the diverse history of different world musical traditions, including music from different cultures, periods, and genres. However, we should timetable annual reviews to access and make any required changes to make best use of and other campaigns, e.g., black history month, refugee week etc. support and promote this view as the expected norm.
8. Whilst the music service reaches out into the community through its links to schools, but also through participation and performance in public events and public spaces through events such as Mental Health Suicide Prevention Events, Armed Forces Day, and Refugee Week it should also consider how it can further promote awareness and foster good relations by looking to support events like St Helens Pride or Disability Awareness Events?
9. Currently the needs of pupils and families in receipt of FSM/PP and other wider needs of children and families are considered in creating and running services - no charges for music centre or instrument loan etc. We will seek to survey all parents as to why only a small number attend out of school activities and fewer support their children at concerts. For example, we should consider if charging for a Music Centre membership that included free concerts remove or create a barrier.
10. The MEH Board has a set of SMART targets that include EDI that are reported to ACE quarterly. To best adopt the EDI Statement and EDI Priority within all our work we will seek to embed these within our Hub Business plans and set challenging SMART targets across a range of activities.
11. More work needs to be undertaken to better support young people aspire to and enter high education and/or undertake advanced training in order to be able to enter the workforce. This links in with the current projects being led by the Hub on behalf of MMEHA and should be encouraged to extend and expand this work in the future through additional funding applications and regional grants.

SEND Strategy

The following table outlines our refreshed approach to working with special schools and inclusion units within mainstream schools. It has been created in partnership with Sky Music Education Hub to utilise additional experience and expertise, share resources, and seek to co-design events and support programmes.