National policy update: what the Government’s new plans mean for music education

The Government has published Turn It Up: Our Plan for Music, alongside a new Enrichment Framework for schools and colleges. Together they set a national direction for music education, the music industry and creative careers and reinforce a message we’ve been working toward locally for some time: musical talent is everywhere, but access to opportunity isn’t.

The strength of a Music Hub lies not in delivering every activity itself, but in bringing together schools, music services, community organisations, orchestras, charities and creative partners to ensure every child has the opportunity to make music.

What’s in Turn It Up

Published in July 2026, Turn It Up brings together Government and industry activity across education, skills, venues, grassroots music, exports and workforce development. Its priorities:

• improving access to music education and reducing financial and social barriers to participation;
• supporting progression from first musical experiences to advanced opportunity;
• developing clearer pathways into creative careers;
• strengthening technical and specialist skills;
• expanding opportunities through schools, libraries, youth services and community settings;
• ensuring disabled, disadvantaged and underrepresented young people can participate and progress.

Music Hubs remain central to connecting these opportunities locally.

The Enrichment Framework

Alongside it, the Government’s new Enrichment Framework gives schools and colleges eight benchmarks for evaluating their enrichment offer – arts and culture sit alongside sport, nature, civic engagement and wider life skills. The framework asks settings to treat enrichment as a planned, connected offer rather than a loose collection of activities: who’s participating and who isn’t, how activities connect to the curriculum, what progression looks like, whether cost or transport creates barriers, how young people shape provision, and how impact is actually reviewed.

Music Hubs are named within the Government’s enrichment resources as part of the infrastructure that helps schools build this out.

What this means across Somerset and Dorset

This national direction lines up closely with what our own Needs Analysis found, and with the priorities behind the 2026–27 Music Education Partnership Programme.

Reaching underserved communities

The Government’s ambition to ensure every child can access high-quality music education, regardless of where they live, closely reflects our own priorities. This year we are investing in programmes that bring music directly into rural schools and communities, including SONOpera, which will work with schools across North Dorset and Mendip, alongside school partnerships delivered by Somerset Music, Dorset Music Service, DRMS and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra — ensuring more children can experience high-quality music-making close to home. Alongside this school-based delivery, targeted community investment, informed by our Needs Analysis, will help address areas where opportunities have traditionally been limited.

Inclusion, equity and partnership working

The new national plan places inclusion at the heart of music education. Across Somerset and Dorset, that means working with specialist organisations to remove barriers to participation and build progression routes for every child and young person – not offering everyone the same thing – but making sure each child can participate fully, whatever adapted instruments, inclusive technology, different teaching approaches or financial support.

Our 2026–27 programme includes partnerships with Live Music Now, Actiontrack, Evolve Music, B Sharp and Young People Frome, each bringing specialist expertise to support children and young people with SEND, those facing disadvantage, young people at risk of exclusion, and those whose musical journeys may begin outside traditional classroom settings. Bringing together schools, community organisations, youth services and professional musicians in this way builds a connected local music education ecosystem, rather than a set of isolated projects.

Early years and digital access

Musical development begins long before children enter formal schooling, and increasingly extends beyond the classroom too. Our programme includes Babigloo, supporting musical development in the earliest years, alongside My Online Music Lessons, providing flexible digital tuition that helps overcome geographical barriers for children and young people who can’t access face-to-face provision. Together, these show how technology can complement traditional music education rather than compete with it.

Progression, enrichment and next steps

High-quality music education is about more than first access. It’s about ensuring children and young people can continue their musical journey. Over the coming year we’ll work with partners to map progression opportunities across Somerset and Dorset, helping schools, families and young people understand the routes available from first experiences through to advanced study, ensembles, creative careers and lifelong participation. Alongside this, we’ll be launching a new bursary programme to help remove financial barriers and support talented young musicians to reach opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.

Creative careers beyond performing

Sound and lighting, music production, events management, digital content, composition, instrument technology, community music, broadcasting, and the administration and project management behind it all – young people should see these as real options, and employers, colleges, universities and venues all have a role in making them visible.

New community partnerships

Libraries, youth organisations and cultural venues have real potential as local gateways into music-making, especially in areas that don’t have one already.

Questions worth asking

The Enrichment Framework’s benchmarks translate into eight practical questions for any school or music organisation reviewing its offer:

1. Who’s participating, and who’s currently missing?
2. What’s actually stopping participation or progression?
3. How does this connect to the curriculum or wider enrichment offer?
4. What can a young person do next?
5. How are young people involved in shaping it?
6. Are creative and technical careers visible within the programme?
7. Which local partners could extend its reach or impact?
8. How will we know whether it’s made a difference?

We’ll be building these same questions into our evaluation and quality framework so providers are answering them up front rather than us extracting the answers later.

Octagon Music Hub’s role

We don’t deliver every activity ourselves. Our role is to work with schools, music organisations, cultural partners and communities across Somerset and Dorset to build a connected local music system, one where children and young people can experience music, learn and develop, perform and create, find a genuine next step, help shape what’s on offer, and see a path toward further education, training or employment in it.

Over the coming year we’ll keep working with partners on rural access, inclusive provision, musical progression, creative careers, and the link between curriculum and enrichment.

Further information: read Turn It Up: Our Plan for Music and the Enrichment Framework for schools and colleges on GOV.UK. Schools and organisations wanting to talk through their music, enrichment or progression offer can contact Octagon Music Hub.