Looking Forward to the Conference Season!

Well, the election campaign is over and, for the first time in 70 years we have a coalition government. The next key milestone looks like being the conference season in the Autumn when the Labour party will have a new leader.

But we in NAME also look forward to the Autumn and our annual conference which, once again, looks like being a really exciting and challenging weekend. To be held between Friday 17th and Sunday 19th September at Yarnfield Park Conference Centre near Stone in Staffordshire, the conference will have a theme of 'Finding the Pupil Voice'.

To open the conference we are delighted to be able to welcome Dame Evelyn Glennie, whose keen interest in music education, including lobbying for funding to support it, is well known. To close Friday's programme Marjorie Ouvry will relate the theme to music in the early years.

The second day will start with an address by Mark Phillips, the current National Adviser for Music with Ofsted and to close the day we have John Stephens, Director of Children's Services for Cheshire West and Chester Council, whose passionate advocacy for music in schools is well known.

On Sunday morning we have a real treat for delegates to round the conference off in an upbeat fashion. The morning will start with a rousing keynote from Mick Waters, formerly Director of Curriculum at the QCA and now professor of Education at Wolverhampton University and inaugural president of the Curriculum Foundation. This will then lead in to an exciting opportunity for delegates to make music in an extended workshop with world - renowned percussion quartet 'Backbeat'.

Coupled with a broad range of stimulating workshops, debates and discussions, we can promise you an exciting conference.

I look forward to being able to welcome you to Yarnfield Park.