Services For Education, the Birmingham education and training charity, is celebrating a hat-trick of success in the national Music & Drama Education Awards for 2021.

The charity has been declared a Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Resource category for its pioneering Online Educational Resource – a totally new online platform developed in-house by Services For Education which has been a truly collaborative approach across the organisation to support schools and pupils during and post-lockdown and delivering more than 800 video tutorials and 380 hours of music tuition. The resource, www.sfeonline.co.uk has been offered free to 410 schools in Birmingham to enable children continue their music tuition.

In addition, two music teachers from Services for Education have been declared Finalists in the Music & Drama Education Awards Gold Stars Award which recognises teachers who have shown compassion, flair and creativity during the pandemic.

Charlotte Buxton, Deputy Head of Music Service and Head of Ensembles at Services For Education, and Naomi Stevenson who, since 2008, has taught brass and piano at Services For Education, have been selected as two of the six finalists in the national Gold Stars Award.

Sharon Bell, Chief Executive at Services For Education, said she was hugely proud that the charity’s achievements and staff were being recognised in this way.

“This has undoubtedly been one of the toughest periods in education that teachers have ever known. At the start of the pandemic, we made a commitment to ensure that no school or child would go unsupported. All our staff have shown great determination and I am particularly proud that the work of two of them has been recognised. Naomi and Charlotte have both demonstrated resilience, imagination and determination to continue their support of children with their music tuition.

“The Online Educational Resource, which is now one of the largest in the country, is also hugely impressive in its scope and content particularly since it was created in-house during lockdown. It is already a valuable resource and we intend to develop it further, so it becomes a permanent feature of our distinctive offer to schools.”

The national Music & Drama Education Awards celebrate the extraordinary contribution made by professionals, companies, charities, schools and other organisations to the lives of others through music and drama. Finalists were chosen by a prominent panel of expert judges with the winners being announced live at an online awards ceremony on Wednesday, 24 March.