Tea, Biscuits and Online Training

by Adam Bushell, Create Music.

With East Sussex Music and Brighton & Hove Music & Arts merging to form Create Music, equality, diversity and inclusion are central to its vision. Alongside the ongoing work of running the o360 and Pier One ensembles, Create Music is developing its workforce and making sure that inclusive principles are at its core. 

Growing out of the Pier One project, Create Music is now running monthly online gatherings for all staff who are involved in inclusive teaching, or who are interested to know more about it. It’s an informal space for discussion, sharing, asking questions, alerting peers to training opportunities and - when needed - getting and offering moral support! 

The meetings are attracting a wide variety of people including established Pier One staff, classroom and one-to-one teachers, people with years of experience in special schools, and new teachers wanting to find out about all the work that goes on at Create Music. There’s been warm and helpful chat, and lots of tea has been drunk! 

Pier One is also now offering regular online training for all Create Music staff. We’ve hosted excellent sessions on the ‘Sounds of Intent’ framework, and on awareness of vision impairments and we hope to offer at least one session per term in the future too. 

One thing we’re discovering (not that we’re surprised) is that the teachers and practitioners within Create Music already provide a lot of inclusive opportunities. Almost all instrumental teachers will have at least one student with autism, whether they teach in special schools or not and many us encounter young people with SEN/D on a daily basis. So part of the inclusive project within Create Music is to find, connect and support those teachers and to let their experience enrich the hub.