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Home Working with schools Service level agreements: opportunities, commitments and conditions

Service Level Agreements: Opportunities, Commitments and Conditions

Services provided to schools can be ordered through a Service Level Agreement issued annually.

  • Main SLAs are distributed to schools late April for return by June 
  • Schools with KS2 children should complete a similar booking form for First Access projects and National Curriculum teaching
  • Primary schools partnering with NMPAT on the Direct Billing Scheme should indicate their preferences for instruments to be offered on their main SLA.

Thank you for your support in continuing to work with us.

SLA guidance

Please indicate in the table, in Section A of your SLA return, the amount of teaching you require for small group or individual music lessons to be delivered in your school for the coming year. The hourly charge for instrumental and vocal teaching will be £40 per hour, for 33 weeks across the 2020 to 2021 academic year.

You can also request support for clubs and ensembles, Music Therapy and support for SEND students (please also see section G). To identify the correct staff, times and days of the week please provide as much detail as you can.

Instrumental and vocal teaching is usually provided from KS2 to KS5, though some upper strings and recorder work might be appropriate at KS1.

The contract applies for the full year. For more information, please see our terms and conditions.

The standard minimum visit is 1 hour. Visits of 30 to 50 minutes will be considered, but cannot be guaranteed.

Your visiting teachers will be happy to liaise with you about arranging tuition for next year. If you would like to explore widening the disciplines in your school, please contact the relevant Head of Department:

​In schools where NMPAT has agreed to operate a direct billing scheme, the financial relationship is between NMPAT and the parents.

Section A illustrates the amount of teaching and instruments currently being taught in school. If you would like to increase the range of instruments on offer (assuming sufficient interest for a viable visit) then you can indicate here, or if after informing parents you learn of interest in a wider range of instruments, you are welcome to contact us for a discussion.

Teaching is delivered during the school day.

NMPAT’s standard tuition is provided as 15 minute individual lessons, though in some circumstances this may be combined into a shared half hour.

Beginner Group lessons are available to children during their first year of learning, for all instruments except keyboard/piano. These are provided as 30 minute lessons for a group of 3 to 4 pupils, or 20 minutes for 2 pupils.

Schools inviting NMPAT to operate as a supplier of music education in their school, in a direct billing arrangement, undertake to abide by the same professional relationship which currently exists between NMPAT, its staff and the school concerned.

See our terms and conditions for further information.

If you would like to discuss widening the range of disciplines in your school, please contact the relevant Head of Department:

Please see our dedicated page for national curriculum music teaching.

Please see our dedicated page for vocal projects.

We are now able to offer lessons in Music Production and access to Music Production exams administered by Rock School London. We have been developing an offer for schools, with the generous support of the Constance Travis Trust.

If you would like a conversation about the provision of Music Production lessons in school, or support for the development of Music Production and technology in school, please contact Head of Music Production John Calcott JCalcott@NMPAT.co.uk 

Fresh Beats is a small class learning format for year 4, 5 and 6 covering the rudiments of contemporary popular music. Weekly classes can be after-school or during the school day. 6 students can be accommodated during each 30 min session where the core skills of drumming, keyboard, guitar and vocals will be covered. £55 per student per term. Min. group size: 12 students.

Sessions will be held for 10 weeks a term with regular performance opportunities. Equipment is provided although schools can own their own equipment if they wish to do so, NMPAT can assist in the ordering of equipment.

For further details please contact John Draper, Head of Guitars: JDraper@NMPAT.co.uk 

NMPAT continues to be a premier partner of Charanga and are able to offer all Northamptonshire and Rutland schools access to Charanga’s award-winning musical school programme.

Musical School is a living cloud-based resource that brings together great music, modern pedagogy and the latest educational technology. It supports all aspects of music in school including the new music curriculum, as well as providing children and their families with opportunities to continue learning and exploring music at home through Music World.

Musical School is available through NMPAT at a discounted rate of £195 per year. You can sign up for a 30-day trial period before ordering.

You can find information on Charanga Musical School on our Resources for school staff page.

You can request a licence for Musical School on your SLA or at any time during the year. For further information please contact Chris Hiscock, Head of Curriculum Music CHiscock@nmpat.co.uk.

Please see our dedicated page for special educational needs music lessons.

We would be happy to support you in any aspect of your school’s musical development and can provide consultancy support for:

  • induction of new staff
  • support for non-specialist teachers
  • developing a music curriculum within your school
  • teaching and learning in the music classroom
  • support for Arts Mark application
  • preparation for Ofsted

Fees and charges

Bespoke consultancy work is charged at £70 per hour or £350 per day, but please contact us to discuss your individual needs.

For further information please contact Chris Hiscock, Head of Curriculum Music on CHiscock@nmpat.co.uk

DFE Data return: Please help us report to DFE about the level of ensemble activity in your school. We have one of the most musical counties in the country and we want to shout about it.

Customer satisfaction: Please also tell us how we are doing. It is important that we know what our customers think of us and we appreciate any comments or thoughts you might like to share.

Last year 96% of your responses graded us as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. We also learned that it is in the area of support for your school and communication that we need to improve the most. We hope that this new way of presenting the SLA information will help with both of those issues.

School email addresses: Help us communicate more effectively with you, by checking the email addresses we hold for your school. Any changes can be indicated on the SLA return, or can be made at any time by visiting https://presto.nmpat.co.uk and logging into your school account from any of the registered email addresses. A password can be requested from the site.

​Please check the information we hold on our database about your contact details, sign and date your form before returning it to us.

Please see our dedicated page for ‘First Access’ whole class instrumental provision.

NMPAT commits to provide for this Service Level Agreement:

The ability and capacity to provide for all of your musical education requirements, including:

  • First Access whole class teaching and progression routes
  • small group and individual lessons
  • music curriculum delivery
  • ensemble coaching, small group teaching and music clubs
  • instrumental and vocal provision
  • access to exam entry and medal assessment – ABRSM and Trinity – and to accompanists
  • access to continuation routes including Regional Centres and auditioned County Ensembles

NMPAT provides specialist music education professionals – all of our staff are:

  • subject to a safer recruitment process and enhanced DBS disclosures
  • trained and certificated in Safeguarding for children and young people
  • expected to wear NMPAT identification
  • highly skilled and qualified music professionals that participate in ongoing CPD and keep up to date with developments in their practice

Access to and provision from NMPAT’s stock of over 10,000 maintained instruments:

  • Instruments provided for all First Access delivery
  • Instrument loan available for small group delivery
  • Access to specialist and high value instruments
  • Teaching and practice instruments – e.g. double basses in schools

NMPAT provides the management, administration and organisational infrastructure to support delivery, including:

  • all appropriate employer’s liability and public liability insurances
  • management of staff and resolution of concerns or disputes
  • timetabling
  • administration
  • all matters relating to NICs, holiday pay, absences, sickness, maternity or paternity leave, etc.
  • subsidised costs – through National Music Grant and additional fundraising from other sources – including some access to bursaries and fees remissions for students

Collaboration with NMPAT provides access for young people to a wide range of progression routes and follow up opportunities:

  • Regional Centres and Rock Schools
  • residential courses
  • masterclasses, family play days, careers events, audition support
  • Auditioned County ensembles
  • concerts and performance opportunities – including participation opportunities with the National Festival of Music for Youth
  • bursaries and fees remission support
  • theory and aural support for exam entrants

Schools can expect their NMPAT instrumental teachers to be willing to:

  • have a coherent scheme of work for projects, as appropriate (e.g. for First Access)
  • liaise with parents through the use of NMPAT practice diaries
  • plan sessions with shared deliverers, as appropriate
  • discuss progress with schools and teachers
  • support schools with concerts as far as possible
  • discuss opportunities for ongoing support facilitated by school staff, as appropriate
  • provide written reports once a year for small group and individual instrumental students

As a school inviting NMPAT to work in partnership, you commit to:

  • Ensure that there is a designated contact person to liaise with NMPAT and to provide their name and contact.
  • Offer a direct line of communication with NMPAT teachers and make them feel valued as members of staff in the school.
  • Ensure the NMPAT teachers are aware of relevant dates in the school calendar, e.g. INSET days, school trips, concerts, and similar.
  • Provide the NMPAT teachers with all relevant medical and social information about pupils being taught and Health and Safety information relating to your site.
  • Ensure there is an appropriate space and environment for the project or teaching to take place, with suitable visibility for safeguarding purposes and where music making can take place uninterrupted and without disturbing others.
  • Where appropriate, enable concerts and sharing of work with parents and audiences – for example at the end of a project – and to liaise over the administration, presentation and delivery of these.
  • Where students participating in small group and individual lessons and are provided with an instrument, to support the requirement for this to be registered with our instrument loan scheme via paperwork administered by trust staff.
  • From time to time be invited, as representatives from the school, to attend concerts or events and experience NMPAT’s work in practice, particularly if the school’s students are performing.
  • From time to time, NMPAT may ask schools to disseminate information to students about our Regional Centres / County Ensembles / or other activities. Please do let us know if there are opportunities to provide information to be included in school newsletters, book bags, or similar.

Students must provide (where appropriate) their own music books, strings and reeds, as advised by the instrumental or vocal teacher. Every effort will be made to offer students the free loan of an instrument (subject to availability and not including guitars, keyboards and drum kits) particularly in the early stages of study.

Advice for students

  • You will be expected to commit to their learning and play between lessons – remember the more you play, the better you get.
  • You will be provided with practice diaries to write down what they should be practicing between lessons and to record when they have practiced.  
  • Aim to make music every day if you can.
  • Always remember to think about your posture.
  • Listen for a good sound.
  • Have fun when you play, that way your personality will shine through your music.

Please download the appropriate Terms and Conditions document for you:

This is a copy of the NMPAT Privacy Policy explaining what data we hold and how it is used:

Alternatively, you can read the policy on our privacy policy page.

"All children should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument"

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