Following the death of composer Dr Richard Shephard in 2021, the Foundation was established with the mission of ‘bringing the experience and enjoyment of music to children and young people in Yorkshire and beyond’. The Foundation’s schools programme focuses largely on primary schools in disadvantaged or isolated communities.
As well as improving musical knowledge, evidence to support the positive impact of music education is overwhelming. Reported benefits include:
Positive impacts on cognitive skills (1)
Supporting language development (2)
Improved social and emotional Development (3)
Positive impacts on cognitive skills (1) Supporting language development (2) Improved social and emotional Development (3)
The Foundation aims to increase both the number of primary-aged children receiving music lessons, and the length of time they spend each week experiencing music, at a critical stage in their development.
Impact 2021/22
Our Yorkshire teachers from Sing Education
Between September 2021 and August 2022, the Foundation is proud to have achieved the following milestones:
960 children aged 4 to 12 received weekly music sessions and singing assemblies. This has increased to almost 2,500 children from Sept 2022 and we hope to see this increase to 4,000 during 2022/23
90 children took part in a new school choir or music club
120 children sang in York Minster as part of Make Music Day – video here: https://youtu.be/rFot79_NHI4
30 children performed as part of the Ryedale Festival – video here: https://youtu.be/a1bIA7fnzMg
Four Music Specialists were recruited and trained to work across the Foundation’s partner schools
What difference did the school programme make?
To help shape future development, we spoke to school leaders, teachers and support staff across six schools about the effectiveness of the school programme.
100% said that children’s musical knowledge was ‘very much or somewhat improved’ – with 62.5% saying ‘very much improved’.
100% said that children’s confidence was ‘very much or somewhat improved’ – with 87.5% saying ‘very much improved’.
75% of schools said the school’s standard of music delivery was ‘very much improved’.
87.5% said their teacher’s confidence in delivering music was ‘very much or somewhat improved’.
“It’s been a fantastic first year and we can’t wait to continue the journey with you! It’s had a huge impact on our music provision and we can see this through the way in which pupils talk about their music knowledge and skills. Thank you.”
The Principal, Easterside Academy, Middlesbrough
This work would not have been possible without the vision of the composer and educator, the late Dr Richard Shephard, the donors that have generously supported the Foundation in his memory, and the schools that have joined the programme.
References
1 - Giovanni Sala and Fernand Gobet. Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis. Memory and Cognition, 2020. 2 - Tierney A, Kraus N. Music training for the development of reading skills. 3 - Schellenberg E, Corrigall KA, Dys SP, Malti T. Group music training and children’s prosocial skills. 
York Minster, Richard Shephard Music Foundation