In November 2022 we held the Kent Music Conference: Taking Action on Music at the Kent Event Centre near Maidstone.
This is the first conference of its kind which Kent Music have run, and we’re delighted that the day was a great success with over 110 music teachers from primary, secondary and special schools joining us to take action on music education in schools. The day covered a range of topics including developing a musical school, exploring music beyond the walls of the classroom and diversifying repertoire that is part of the curriculum, broadly informed by the new National Plan for Music Education (NPME).
The wonderful YolanDa Brown joined as the first of two outstanding keynote speeches, discussing the importance of developing a musical legacy and how we are the gatekeepers for the children that we teach. Later we were joined by Head of Performing Arts for United Learning Catherine Barker, who was on the panel for the development of the National Plan for Music Education. Catherine’s insights into the plan and the development of the NPME were fascinating and many teachers left enthused and ready for action.
The conference had a full day of workshops and speakers for attending schools, covering topics for primary, secondary and special schools and EYFS learning environments. Speakers included Katie Teage, Creative Futures, Soundabout, Sarah Share, Emily Renshaw-Kidd (The Langton School), Dr Anthony Anderson (Birmingham City University) and Black Lives in Music. Everyone there contributed insight, information and excitement to the day, and we all came away feeling inspired.
I feel empowered and enthused. Thank you so much!
Primary school teacher and conference attendee
We’re excited to see the positive impact this will have for the schools and teachers who attended, and we hope to be able to offer similar events for schools in the future.
Many thanks to all our speakers and staff who contributed to what was a fantastic day!