January 2019
Stop Press!
14/01/2019
NEMFCIC has been given exclusive access to a groundbreaking and innovational new educational product for schools and individuals.
The innovative product is video based and is to be trialled this half term at both Monkwearmouth Academy and Hylton Castle Primary school in Sunderland. The product is backed by sound academic and scientific research, and has been viewed with great interest by several local Heads of school (both Primary and Secondary), as well as staff from North East Universities and a small number of leaders of independent music services from across the country who all gave a similar positive response after a private viewing recently.
We held a presentation/product launch in our office premises in Newcastle last week to 25 attendees from a wide variety of educational backgrounds including Heads of Music, consultants working for Ofsted, staff of Newcastle and Gateshead Colleges and a number of our own peripatetic staff.
Please check our website in the coming days as more details will be posted/uploaded……..
“NEMFCIC joins the newly formed Association of Independent Music Services
After a recent meeting at the Musicians Union head office in London, our company has become one of 8 founder members of this group. Other providers from across the country include a number of cooperatives and charitable trusts - all delivering a similar service to pupils in their own regions - from Cornwall to Newcastle!
”
2017/18:
IR35 -
We have had quite a few queries from schools recently with regard to HMRCs new tax regulations - IR35
We are happy to say that we are fully compliant with IR35 as our company employs its staff, and is registered with HMRC for PAYE and NI deductions. As far as we know, we are the only organisation of our kind in the North East which does this. When we set up the company in 2011, we did so with the intention of providing schools with the confidence that we would provide them with a fully quality assured, integrated and team oriented staff.
We have grown from a workforce of 2, to over 20 this year, and are now actively recruiting more tutors - so we must have got something right!
We are currently emailing schools again to remind them of the services we have on offer (please see our "About Us" page), and reassuring them of our compliance with IR35.
More exciting news, new product on the horizon:
We are now in receipt of extra funding from RTC North in Sunderland to help further develop our latest study support resource. We have a new Trade Mark, and are preparing a patent application for this exciting innovation - which we expect to prove very useful not only for pupils in local schools, but for a much wider range of people who may experience problems with memory, such as those on the Autistic spectrum, and those with any of a variety of memory based mental health conditions. Watch this space.........
Exam results:
Great set of results from the Rock School Learning (RSL) exam board special visit to Sandhill View Academy in July. Pupils from 5 Secondary Academies in Sunderland took exams from Grade 1 up to Grade 6. No one achieved less than a Merit, with three pupils getting a Distinction. A big "well done" to pupils and tutors!
This is the first Year we have managed to hold 2 separate special examiner visits for exams in Sunderland, and the latest results were even better than the last exam in February.
Also a big well done to the three pupils at Southmoor Academy who achieved highly in their Grade 8 Piano earlier this year, and a special thank you to Mr Brown for all of his hard work with them.
June 2017:
Well done to the bands from Monkwearmouth, St Aidans and Thornhill school who performed at the finish of the Blaydon Race this year - it's not often you get to play to a crowd of over 5,000 (even if most of them were moving at the time!!)
SEPTEMBER 2016
Exam information for Sunderland Heads of Music:
We have decided that the forthcoming Rock School (now RSL - Rock School Limited) special exam visit in Sunderland, organised by NEMFCIC, should also be opened to pupils from Sunderland schools including those not currently using NEMFCIC tutors in their school.
The benefits of organising a special visit from a graded exam board are self evident:
1) It allows us to nominate a date which is at, or very near to, the end of the current exam period. That gives a significantly greater time for tutors and pupils to prepare for their exam - anything from just less than two months to three whole months!
2) Pupils can be entered much later - RSL's deadline for individual entries in this period is 1st October 2016 - NEMFCIC can accept entries as late as the second week of November.
3) It reduces admin time - Heads of Music simply need to give us the names, DOB,s and payments for exams and we will do the rest. There is no need to consult with pupils on which dates they are not available to do the exam as you will already know the exam date in advance.
4) If a school wants to enter a number of pupils then we can schedule exams so that their times run consecutively allowing schools a more efficient option to transport pupils to and from the host school (exam centre).
Any Sunderland Schools wishing to be kept informed of this, or to receive details of our unique graded exam study support resources, should email Eric Lewis at: eric.lewis1@nemfcic.co.uk
A big thank you:
To all of those teachers who voted for Eric Lewis in the recent ballot of the Musicians Union Teachers Section. Eric has been re-elected to the MU National Teachers Section Committee, having already served for 4 years, and continues to be the only representative from the North East. The committee consults and advises on a whole range of issues affecting instrumental and singing teaching and teachers across the UK.
A New Director:
We are very pleased to announce the appointment of a third director at NEMFCIC.
David Shaw BMus, a well respected professional musician and very experienced instrumental teacher from the North East now joins Eric Lewis and Ian Dawson on the company board of directors.
More ensembles, more gigs, more staff (and more exams!...):
NEMFCIC is very pleased to be continuing to grow, and expand its tuition and performance opportunities to schools and the wider community in the North East.
After the recent success of the special visit we organised, for a Rock School (RSL) examiner to attend Sandhill View Academy, we have decided to organise another visit this term to hold RSL graded exams in another Sunderland school. The likely date/s are 14th/15th December - to be confirmed later this month.
Workshops:
NEMFCIC is now offering a wide range of workshops to schools, delivered by professional musicians, including composition workshops for GCSE, African drumming, Singing, taster sessions for Brass, Strings, Woodwind etc.
CPD session for Primary School Music coordinators in Sunderland.
Would all Sunderland Primary schools wishing to send their Music coordinators on a CPD session with one of our experienced practitioners please contact Eric Lewis on: eric.lewis@nemfcic.co.uk or call 07779 102926 to register an interest in taking part.
The session is likely to take place on a Monday between 4pm and 5.30pm, venue to be confirmed soon at a Sunderland school.
This will include training and resource packs and is aimed at those teachers who have been given the role of Music coordinator within school but lack confidence and/or experience as well as those who are looking to further their current knowledge within the role.
Rockschool (RSL) examiner special visit to Sandhill View Academy on July 15th
NEMFCIC has arranged a special visit from a Rockschool (now RSL) examiner to Sandhill View Academy to examine all of those pupils being taught by our tutors in Sunderland schools in graded exams in electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and vocals.
We hope everyone is practising hard already for this...
Redby Primary May 27th
Well done to all of the keyboard pupils who took part in the assembly performance at Redby on May 27th, first performance of the year and you had all practised well, keep it up!
Southmoor Academy May 25th
What a great gig! We had around 90 people in the 6th form cafe at Southmoor Academy on Wednesday 25th May at 6.00pm with 9 acts including pupils from 5 different academies/secondary schools and 2 primary schools.
Great performances by everyone, with quite a few performing in front of an audience for the first time, some new friends were made as pupils watched bands from other schools with interest, along with the obligatory complement of proud parents.
Big thanks to the caretaker from Southmoor Academy for allowing the gig to take place and to all of the people who travelled over from Monkwearmouth and further afield to support the gig.
Looking forward to the next gig at Monkwearmouth Academy on Tuesday June 21st
January 2016 - Happy New Year to all of our schools, pupils and tutors.
New Office for NEMFCIC:
Our new studio/office address for visitors is "NEMFCIC", Floor 6, Commercial Union House, 39 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE1 6QE.
Please call Eric Lewis on 07779 102926 if you wish to arrange a meeting.
New ensemble/performance opportunities for Sunderland pupils coming soon. Details to follow.....
New Office for NEMFCIC:
From tomorrow (November 6th 2015) we will be moving to our new office premises in the centre of Newcastle, details to follow soon......
One to one lessons to be offered at two Sunderland Academies...
Starting on a Saturday morning, 21st November 2015 at 9.00am, we are offering one to one tuition on guitar (electric, acoustic and classical), bass guitar, drums, and piano/keyboards.
These will take place in the practice rooms in the Music departments of Monkwearmouth Academy and Southmoor Academy
Lessons are 30 minutes at £14 per lesson, or an hour at £28 per lesson.
There is a refundable deposit of £30, and payment should be made by cheque payable to North East Music Foundation CIC, or by bank transfer (bacs payment) account details on request.
To register your interest, and book a time for your lesson please go to our contact page and send us details of which instrument and what level you currently play at, or call Eric Lewis on 07779 102926 – please leave a voicemail if there is no reply.
All of our tutors have a wealth of experience as both professional musicians and teachers. They have all undertaken enhanced DBS checks (formerly CRB). The minimum age we accept pupils at is 6 years old, with no maximum age!
Lessons will run initially between 9am til 1pm on Saturdays, but we are looking at running other classes on weekday evenings so please email us if you are not able to make a Saturday morning. We are also looking to expand the number of instruments we can offer tuition on (to include singing tuition) in early 2016 so please contact us with details if you are interested.
We are unique as a company in having our own rapidly growing custom made library of study support videos which you will be given access to through a password issued by your tutor. These cover a wide variety of aspects of playing your chosen instrument, and are an invaluable practise tool. Most of our videos are short and concise, and have been "looped" to give you the best possible results when practising with them.
As you will see from our homepage we are a growing company and our tutors already provide instrumental/vocal tuition to schools in the Sunderland area and elsewhere in the North East.
See our contact page or call 07779 102926
We look forward to hearing from you...
Monkwearmouth Academy, breaking records:
Earlier this year, a group of 7 guitarists from the Year 11 GCSE cohort all achieved success in their graded electric guitar exams. Two of those students achieved a pass and a merit at Grade 8 on the "Rock School" syllabus which is the highest result achieved on any instrument at the school for as long as the current Head of Music can remember (at least 12 years, and probably longer!)
All of the pupils made use of the video/audio study support service provided by NEMF through this website.
Singing their praises:
6 pupils from Monkwearmouth Academy also all got through their London College of Music graded singing exams this year, with one pupil being awarded the LCM Excellence award for the the highest mark (91%) in her Grade 2 singing exam. Brilliant performance!
Sandhill View Academy, another success story in the making:
Sandhill View Academy looks to raise the roof!
North East Music Foundation CIC was given the go ahead to take over the running of the instrumental and singing tuition in the Academy in September this year.
Within the first three weeks of term, and working closely with the schools music teacher Ms Walton, we have more than QUADRUPLED the number of pupils taking up the offer of instrumental/singing tuition at the school in comparison with numbers in July 2015.
A new lunchtime ensemble has been started, as well as a new after school rock and pop music club, and the future looks bright!
watch this space for news of upcoming pupil performances...
Southmoor Academy, Orchestral manoeuvres in broad daylight:
Head of Performing Arts at Southmoor, Ms Nichol, has now started a school orchestra for the first time in many years. Building on recent increases in pupils taking up an instrument since NEMF was given the go ahead earlier this year to manage the peripatetic instrumental and singing tuition at the school. Pupils from all year groups are expected to be involved.