It was a double celebration when Springwood High School was appointed as Lead School for West Norfolk for the Norfolk and Suffolk Music Hub for the second year running – as well as being nominated for a prestigious educational award for the second time.

Our school continues in the influential role, which involves promoting and supporting Music provision in the area; while we have also been put forward to receive the Music Mark of Recognition for Ambition and Quality in Music Education.

Robin Norman is Director of Music at both Springwood and the West Norfolk Academies Trust, of which we are a member.

“As part of the most recent National Plan for Music Education, Music Hubs are requested to appoint ‘lead schools’ who excel in areas of music education, with the aim of demonstrating outstanding music provision,” he explained.

“In our role, we are asked to support activities in our local area and also work with other schools as required, and be a point of contact for other schools if they want support in any area. We also welcome other school Music staff and leaders to Springwood to see what can be achieved.

“To be asked to continue for a second year is wonderful and legitimises all the work we are doing, not just in Springwood itself, but in the wider music community, working with the Hub and other partners to give opportunities to all the young people of West Norfolk, and further afield.”

Although nationally the percentage of pupils taking instrumental and singing lessons has dropped to around eight per cent, Springwood boasts a figure of 12.5 per cent, while the number of students studying GCSE and A-Level Music at the school has risen by around 100 per cent since the Pandemic, with additional courses introduced to meet demand.

Mr Norman continued: “These figures are, I’m sure, part of the reason we have won the awards we have. At a time when Music education is struggling nationally, we are actively increasing our take up and provision.

“Music Mark is the national Music Education organisation that works with the Department of Education, Arts Council, and all Music Hubs to monitor and make improvements in Music Education on a national scale. They are also at the forefront of things such as the new National Curriculum that is being worked on at the moment.

“We were nominated by the Norfolk and Suffolk Music Hub for the work we do in our position as Lead School, but also as a recognition for the great work we are doing as a school, bucking the national trend.”

He added: “We work incredibly hard at Springwood, and across the whole West Norfolk Academies Trust, to give a quality Music education to all our students, and to give them fantastic opportunities and experiences in Music. This award does, we feel, offer real credibility to what we are trying to do.”