Children and young people

There are no plans to amend the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) to include creative subjects, Education Minister Robert Halfon has said.

Halfon’s comments came during a House of Lords Select Committee inquiry into the future challenges for the creative industries, held last week.

When asked by committee member Lord Foster of Bath if the government was going to add creative subjects to the Ebacc, Halton said: "There will not be any changes to the EBacc. The government believes that the EBacc should be studied as part of a broad and balanced curriculum."

The EBacc is an accountability measure in England’s education sector which measures the proportion of children who secure a grade 5 or above in at least seven GCSEs in five areas - english language, english literature, maths, double science or biology, chemistry and physics, history or geography and a language. 

The Department for Education has set a target of 90% of pupils achieving the EBacc by 2025.

The exclusion of the arts from the Ebacc is widely regarded as a key reason for the decline in uptake of creative subjects in higher education.

In the committee hearing, Halfon said an extra £115m is being invested in arts, heritage and creative subjects in schools: "A music plan came out last year that extends music opportunities for pupils across the board and aids those who want to go into the music industry."

He added that ministers are working on cultural schools plan, which he said is due to come out next year.

Drama texts by white playwrights account for the vast majority of plays taught in secondary schools across England and Wales, a study has found.

Research conducted by Bloomsbury Publishing found that 90% of drama texts taught at GCSE and 96% at A-Level English Literature were by white playwrights. 

The study also found that there are currently just two drama set texts by Global Majority writers available at A-Level English Literature.

The lack of diversity in drama texts contrasts with 93% of teachers saying they would like to see a more ethnically diverse range of writers offered by exam boards. 

Meanwhile 65% of teachers said there was a demand from their students to study more ethnically diverse writers.

"Our research shows that there is real appetite for change and that publishers, theatre makers, examiners and teachers need to work together to deliver change to the curriculum," Margaret Bartley, Editorial Director for Literary Drama at Bloomsbury Publishing, said.

"If we empower teachers to switch texts with confidence, students can continue to benefit from the positive impact and influence of studying plays. 

"In the future, those plays will better reflect the student cohort and ensure students see themselves represented in the texts they study. 

"Bloomsbury is committed to playing our part in delivering this change through our proactive programme of new play text publishing, supported by the resources teachers and students need to study and enjoy them."

The German government is introducing cultural vouchers for young people early next year.

A pilot of the KulturPass, expected to cost the German government €100m, will see everyone who turns 18 in Germany next year receive a €200 voucher to spend on culture.

Recipients will be able to use the voucher over a two-year period. It will be managed through an app and website that advertises cultural offers ranging from books and records to concerts, theatre and museum visits.

Online and international platforms, including Amazon and Spotify, have been excluded from the scheme, to make sure recipients support local cultural providers.

According to the Germany Embassy in London, the scheme aims “to expose young people to the arts and provide a financial boost to the cultural sector”.

Germany’s Culture Minister Claudia Roth and Finance Minister Christian Lindner said the scheme would be extended to a wider age group if the pilot is successful.

Several European countries already administer cultural vouchers for young adults, including France, Italy and Spain.

A new music exam discount scheme hopes to remove the financial barriers for students who struggle to pay exam fees.

The pilot scheme launched by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) will enable students to save up to 95% of the cost of practical and performance grades, as well as music theory exams.

Operated by Music Mark, the UK’s subject association for music education, the scheme is available to local authority music services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Each music service provider will be allocated exam discounts based on published school roll numbers, with adjustments for deprivation.

Schools will have discretion over the level of discount requested for each student. However, ABRSM said they are "likely to follow existing fee remissions policies that many music services already have in place".

ABRSM’s Chief Executive, Chris Cobb, said: "At a time when costs and prices are increasing, we are ever more aware that many families are facing financial hardship.

"The pilot discount scheme is about working with music services to help them support those facing the biggest challenges, and about helping to make music learning and progression more accessible for more people."

The pilot is operating in the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. It will run until July 2024.

The National Trust has opened what it says is the world’s first stately home entirely reimagined for children.

Sudbury Hall, a 17th-century country house in Derbyshire, has been redeveloped into the Children’s Country House after a two-and-a-half-year renovation project.

National Trust staff consulted with 100 young ambassadors, aged up to 12 years, to devise and test ideas for the property.

The Hall welcomed visitors for the first time last weekend. There are almost no ropes or barriers in the property, allowing visitors to explore the space freely, with colour coding to signal what objects can be touched.

The house features activities, games, a photo booth, children’s books and a shadow puppet theatre in various rooms. Children can learn the basics of heritage conservation in the pantry, which features an interactive display of heritage hazards.

National Trust Director of Curation and Experience said he hopes The Children’s County House “will spark a lifelong love of heritage in the children who step through its doors”.

“We try to be imaginative in how we interpret our places: trying new ideas, where it’s appropriate, to engage people’s different interests. But, as we’ve done at Sudbury Hall, we always do this through careful research, and with the utmost respect for the historic fabric we look after.”

Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) and football team Tottenham Hotspur will work together to improve theatre engagement in young people in the London Borough of Haringey, it has been announced.

The organisations are launching West End in Tottenham, a series of workshops for young people aged 11-18 years old that plan to “celebrate London’s arts and culture and put the voices of N17 centre stage”.

Workshops range from physicality and movement to beatboxing and hip-hop, with participants also invited to attend a West End stage show.

The sessions will take place at the London Academy of Excellence on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium campus throughout the current school term.

Tottenham Hotspur Executive Director Donna-Maria Cullen said dreams of being on stage can “seem so distant” for young people in the neighbourhood.

“West End In Tottenham can change that and open the eyes of Tottenham teenagers to the world of performing arts through a series of engaging and inspiring workshops, held right here on our stadium campus,” she added.

Sessions are available to book here.

The Royal Opera House has partnered with The Elliot Foundation Academies Trust (TEFAT) to deliver a year-long scheme for teachers across the trust’s 32 primary schools.

The programme of arts-led learning will offer training sessions for teachers in schools in London, East Anglia and the West Midlands.

There will also be a five-week scheme of work inspired by Royal Opera House productions, as well as virtual rehearsals and workshops livestreamed from Covent Garden.

These will be followed by regional presentations and a final performance at the Royal Opera House in July 2023.

The programme is part of TEFAT’s wider Partnership Investment Programme, which has worked over three years to support teachers in projects that improve children’s language and communication skills.

Hugh Greenway, Chief Executive of TEFAT, said: “It is through arts partnerships like this that we are able to help children, and their teachers, raise their expectations of themselves.”