FELIX BARTLETT -

After realising that there is absolutely no service or offering available to give individuals with SEND access to proper drum kit tuition across Oxfordshire and much of the UK. I have set up drum lessons bespoke to the physical and sensory requirements of each individual and their learning environment, breaking down barriers which have made the drum kit an inaccessible instrument for those with SEND. Allowing all students to feel the empowerment and confidence that sitting behind and being in control of a proper drum kit gives them.

 

Based in Oxford and I have been teaching drums privately to children and adults of all ages and abilities for over 5 years. While doing this I have also undertaken drum lessons with young people who have a range of SEND conditions including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, cognitive developmental delay and ASD. I have found these lessons profoundly inspiring and feel privileged to be able to offer this service to those students.

The benefits that I have witnessed as well as parents/carers and schools/colleges as a result of these lessons include:
 

• An increase in students' confidence levels both within and outside educational settings. 

• A willingness to re-engage with other curricular activities which student’s may have previously stopped accessing.  

• Greater levels of concentration in other academic and educational settings. 

• Improvements in students coordination and fine motor skills, working with support of physiotherapists wherever possible to offer a more holistic drum lesson enhancing physical exercises.   

• An increased self belief in learning something that may have seemed impossible or to have had too many barriers preventing them from accessing it. 

• Having an avenue to take out frustrations in a kinetic, creative and productive manner. 

• Improved basic math skills due to drumming being built upon counting, fractions, sequences and rhythm. 

 

Alongside my work teaching drums and as a performing session drummer I have also been worked full time for Orchard Therapeutic Provision in Chalgrove as a learning mentor supporting young people with SEND struggling or not accessing education often as a result of mental health issues or negative previous experiences of school/education. This work has enabled me to create far more holistic drum lessons where the central aims and outcomes of the sessions are not driven by grades and exams. Instead the sessions are created in line with each student's individual targets or those laid out in their EHCPs with a focus on the benefits to children’s mental and physical wellbeing that comes from learning an instrument as kinetically engaging as the drums.