Terms & Conditions & Policies
NMPAT and its Saturday Music & Arts Centres have an excellent reputation for positive behaviour and a strong work ethic which the Trust wishes to preserve and develop.
As a member of the NMPAT community, we trust that you will read and accept the NMPAT code of conduct, and feel empowered to speak up if you witness any member of the community (students, staff, supporters…) going against any of our expected behaviours.
NMPAT expects that members of Centres and County Ensembles will continue to support music groups in their schools.
We occasionally use photographs of county groups, centre activities and individual performers for displays, general publicity and on the Trust’s website and Facebook pages.
Extract from our privacy policy:
Photographs and Video Recording as part of NMPAT’s activities, we will take photographs and record images of county groups, centre groups, centre activities and individual performers. Such material will be used solely by NMPAT, for example, for publicity purposes, such as prospectuses and other similar information about the Trust; for display in our buildings, on banners at concerts, on our website and for social media purposes; for assessment and educational purposes; and for fundraising or other purposes to help achieve the Trust’s aims.
For music groups entering the National Festival, run by our partners Music for Youth, and for other national festivals and competitions, photographic data may be collected and used in the same way.
When using photographs and videos for publicity, display or website purposes, we will not accompany them with any other personal information about the child, to ensure they cannot be identified. Although we will carefully use images on the basis of our ‘legitimate interests’ (see above), we understand there may be occasions where music service users provide good reason why we should withdraw certain images.
If you ask us to withdraw an image of your child with good cause, we will delete the photograph or video and not distribute it further. Images that might cause embarrassment or distress will not be used. We will only use images of pupils who are suitably dressed, to reduce the risk of such images being used inappropriately.
If you do not wish photographs of your child to be used as described, you can indicate this via the secure web-link sent with County audition results or by contacting us.
- Between NMPAT and schools
- Between NMPAT and Direct Billing Schools
- Between NMPAT and parents in Direct Billing Schools
Residential courses
For those attending residential courses, including Play and Stay courses, please see the terms and conditions below:
To leave feedback specific to County Ensembles, please use our online form: https://bit.ly/NMPATHearMeOut
For colleagues working in schools, please use our online form to leave feedback: https://bit.ly/NMPATCheckIn
Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) aims to provide high quality music and performing arts education services which meet the needs of the children and young people of Northamptonshire.
In order to ensure our services remain at a high and improving standard, NMPAT has a Complaints Policy and Procedures through which you can let us know if, for any reason, you are not satisfied with your dealings with NMPAT.
Please contact us via the main office: office@nmpat.co.uk
Staff are primarily involved in teaching and enabling young people to develop their artistic skills, however they also have a duty to keep them safe. It is therefore in the interest of all parties to keep clear, professional boundaries. Staff will adhere to the following guidelines:
- Any disclosure of physical or sexual abuse from a young person will be reported to a line manager or the Chief Executive on the day that it is made; likewise of difficult home issues
- Staff will never promise to keep anything that they may be told a secret – it is their duty to pass it on
- Staff will avoid physical contact with students
- If a young person behaves in a slightly unusual or possibly inappropriate way, this will always be reported to a line manager or the Chief Executive
- Direct communication from NMPAT will always be to the parents of students aged under 18. Where emails, text messages or social media contact is made with students, these are always duplicates of parents’ messages
- No member of staff or helper will give out their telephone number to a young person to make contact outside working hours
The following staff can be contacted about any matters relating to child protection and safeguarding. Anyone with a concern about a child can contact one of these people for a confidential discussion regarding their safety. Children and young people wishing to speak to an adult will naturally speak to whichever adult they feel most comfortable with. If a disclosure is made to a member of staff it will be passed to one of these people for further advice.
Senior designated professionals (SDP):
- Peter Smalley, Chief Executive psmalley@nmpat.co.uk
- Rachel Coles, Director of School Based Learning rcoles@nmpat.co.uk
- Liza Field, Director of Learning Development lfield@nmpat.co.uk
- Iain McKnight, Director of Projects and Ensembles imcknight@nmpat.co.uk
Heads of Department and Programme:
- Claire Anderson, Head of Keyboard canderson@nmpat.co.uk
- John Bickerdike, Head of Brass jbickerdike@nmpat.co.uk
- Maggie Boothby, Rutland Music DSL mboothbyrutland@nmpat.co.uk
- John Draper, Head of Guitar jdraper@nmpat.co.uk
- Beth Gifford, Head of Strings bgifford@nmpat.co.uk
- Tim Green, Head of Percussion tgreen@nmpat.co.uk
- Beth Hodgson, Head of Vocal Studies bhodgson@nmpat.co.uk
- Andy Kirkwood, Head of Woodwind akirkwood@nmpat.co.uk
- Tim Smith, Head of NMPAT Contemporary tsmith@nmpat.co.uk
- Simon Steptoe, Music Inclusion Partnership and Programme Manager ssteptoe@nmpat.co.uk
Centre Heads:
- Maggie Boothby, Head of Corby Centre corby@nmpat.co.uk
- Rachel Cliffe, Head of Daventry Centre daventry@nmpat.co.uk
- Sam Ebrahim, Head of Duston Centre duston@nmpat.co.uk
- Rob Fleming, Head of Towcester Centre towcester@nmpat.co.uk
- Jo Green, Head of Wellingborough Centre wellingborough@nmpat.co.uk
- Andy Macfarlane, Head of Kettering Centre kettering@nmpat.co.uk
- Shaun Moffat, Head of Nene Valley Centre nenevalley@nmpat.co.uk
- Janine Mold, Head of Brackley and Cheney Centre brackleycheney@nmpat.co.uk
- Naomi Muller, Head of Holloway Centre holloway@nmpat.co.uk
- Emily-May Roebuck, Head of Y Not Centre, ynot@nmpat.co.uk
- Tom Smith, Head of Queen’s Cross Centre queenscross@nmpat.co.uk
- Nikki Taylor, Head of Youth Theatre youththeatre@nmpat.co.uk
All NMPAT staff and volunteers are subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, including a barred list check and staff suitability questionnaire under Disqualification by Association regulations, and will not be working with children and young people unless NMPAT is satisfied that these checks have been made, and there has been no break in service since the last DBS check.
In the event of any information coming to the attention of NMPAT concerning a member of staff’s suitability to work with children and young people, this information would be shared with the relevant stakeholders immediately.
All staff receive regular training in safeguarding and child protection, including radicalisation, and all school based teaching staff receive an annual performance review.
Any queries about recruitment and Disclosure and Barring Service checks should be directed to the Chief Executive: psmalley@nmpat.co.uk
The following statement was shared with all partner schools in September 2022, to cover the academic year 2022 to 2023. This reflects the DFE guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Schools 2022:
Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006
The latest advice from the DFE (February 2015) clarifies the position of instrumental teaching staff as exempt under this legislation. Staff are not covered by the legislation if they provide “education or supervised activity for children above reception age during school hours (including co-curricular activities, such as the school’s choir or sports teams)”. Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 – DFE February 2015, page 6.
Safer Recruitment and the Single Central Record
DFE Briefing paper Keeping Children Safe in Education – Guidance September 2021 states that all schools must maintain a Single Central Record, for all staff employed by a school. It includes separate advice for agency and third party staff.
In addition to the names of NMPAT (Agency) staff:
“…schools and colleges must also include whether written confirmation has been received that the employment business supplying the member of supply staff has carried out the relevant checks and obtained the appropriate certificates, and the date that confirmation was received and whether any enhanced DBS certificate check has been provided in respect of the member of staff.” Paragraph 166.
Agency and third-party staff: paragraph 268 to 271
“286. Schools and colleges must obtain written notification from any agency, or third party organisation, that they have carried out the checks on an individual who will be working at the school or college that the school or college would otherwise perform. In respect of the enhanced DBS check, schools and colleges must ensure that written notification confirms the certificate has been obtained by either the employment business or another such business.”
“288. Where the position requires a children’s barred list check, this must be obtained by the agency or third party by obtaining an enhanced DBS certificate with barred list information, prior to appointing the individual.”
289. The school or college should also check that the person presenting themselves for work is the same person on whom the checks have been made.”
DFE September 2022 – Keeping children safe in education
Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) recognises and celebrates diversity, it aims to inspire, nurture, and enable all individuals to excel, using the universal languages of music and the performing arts.
NMPAT will continue to strive to ensure that no individuals are discriminated against, harassed, or receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of the protected characteristics, or for socio- economic reasons. The protected characteristics are those of age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and sexual orientation. We aim to ensure that no individuals feel marginalised, vulnerable, or disadvantaged, in their engagement with and through NMPAT.
NMPAT is committed to continued development to ensure inclusion, so that all individuals feel safe to grow, through engagement with our activities. We are dedicated to creating bespoke connections that allow for mutual learning, that are far reaching and flexible.
A key objective of the Music Education Hub Grant, provided to Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) by the Department for Education (DfE), is to help assist in the removal of barriers to learning and making progress for young musicians. This policy has been created to help support engagement and progress in music across the whole range of activities provided by NMPAT.
For those schools who choose NMPAT to provide music teaching, projects and other services, please ensure you have read these two documents before submitting your online SLA:
For those having lessons provided by NMPAT:
