Our view and concept of a hub is that it’s about a ‘community’ and a network of providers – our Associates. What happens under the collective banner of our hub is not therefore only about what we directly fund, support or subsidise.
As a hub, we know that our financial support isn’t sufficient or necessary for everything that everybody does (or would like to do) across schools and communities in Wiltshire. We also must make sure we deliver on our contract with Government and ensure that certain things are available / accessible in Wiltshire – the Hub Core and Extension Roles
In our model, we use the funding we get to do things like:
- Intervene where disadvantage or geography may prevent things happening or young people from accessing opportunities e.g Tuition Subs, the recent Taster Incentive Fund and underwriting / resourcing the instrument hire scheme.
- To develop and trial new ideas & possibilities that may, in the future become effective new models or approaches for delivery – pushing the boundaries if you like and which we see as really important e.g. Development Fund
- To provide our Associate (and School) community with opportunities to gain new of develop existing skills and share info – through our CPD programme, our bulletins and networking and things like the recent Associate Support Fund
- To advocate music’s continued (and ideally growing) role in school and community life, mainly through our School Music Education Planning (SMEP) work and the roles of Cluster Coordinators etc.
All of those things, are designed to support that wider community and the economy that sits behind it whether we are directly funding it or not. As members of our team know, that was always the concept of a hub! As we’ve developed, we’ve been able to increase stakeholders’ influence and shaping of these things e.g expanding our Governance model with Expert groups etc.
What we effectively agree with Associates is that in return for the range of support mechanisms (like those listed above), we will collect, share and report back to government on the collective activity of those Associates. This is why we ask Associates tell us about things they do in Wiltshire even if we haven’t directly funded it all. We know that some Associates (and their pupils) often use or need different things year on year so there isn’t (and shouldn’t be) a direct correlation between the £ value of the support one individual or organisation might receive and the amount of data they report. An increasing number of Associates also share and collaborate with one another through and beyond us which is another aspect of the approach we see as valuable.
As well as feeding a data requirement for Government, this enables us to establish a better picture of the totality of what’s happening in Wiltshire and to respond to it where we can whilst also looking over the horizon on behalf of our community and anticipating things on its behalf – thats the real importance of that information.
