*PLEASE NOTE: This transcript was created with the support of AI - meaning that some sentences / phrasing / words used may not be 100% accurate to Gary's original recording. Please refer back to the ABRSM discount scheme page on the Music Mark website for more information on the scheme*

00:00:01:18 - 00:00:03:00
Welcome to this video walk-

00:00:03:00 - 00:00:06:00
through of the ABRSM
discount scheme.

00:00:06:09 - 00:00:10:13
My name's Gary Griffiths and along with
Matthew Crisp of Music Mark

00:00:11:16 - 00:00:13:11
I administer the scheme

00:00:13:11 - 00:00:15:07
on behalf of ABRSM

00:00:15:07 - 00:00:19:23
So, for a couple of years
now, ABRSM have made budget available

00:00:20:16 - 00:00:24:12
which is allocated right across the UK
music services

00:00:24:12 - 00:00:28:05
to offer discounts on exam schemes
to enable

00:00:28:05 - 00:00:31:05
more children to access

00:00:31:16 - 00:00:35:09
graded music
exams. there have been a couple of changes

00:00:35:09 - 00:00:38:09
to the scheme this year which we’ll talk about

00:00:38:10 - 00:00:41:19
as we go along. Most of this

00:00:41:19 - 00:00:45:00
session is going to be talking
about the actual process

00:00:45:06 - 00:00:49:07
and the form that we use for you to

00:00:50:13 - 00:00:53:13
request exam discounts.

00:00:53:16 - 00:00:56:22
You can find Music Marks page on the Exam
Discounts scheme

00:00:56:22 - 00:01:02:12
with a simple Google search or search
engine such as You can see,

00:01:02:12 - 00:01:06:09
I've searched “Music Mark ABRSM
discounts scheme” and it's come up

00:01:06:15 - 00:01:10:24
as the first of the hits on that screen.

00:01:11:14 - 00:01:15:18
And What that takes you to is a resource
page on Music Marks website.

00:01:16:15 - 00:01:18:14
It gives a little bit of background

00:01:19:13 - 00:01:24:00
on the scheme, why the ABRSM are offering this,

00:01:24:22 - 00:01:27:22
and we've also put links through

00:01:28:05 - 00:01:30:24
to some templates that we've produced.

00:01:30:24 - 00:01:32:24
to make it Easy for You.

00:01:32:24 - 00:01:37:09
So there's a template policy
on information that meets the central

00:01:37:09 - 00:01:41:19
teaching themes and a template lesson
for you to use with parents and guardians.

00:01:42:12 - 00:01:44:19
None of these are compulsory.

00:01:44:19 - 00:01:49:11
You can use these or
your own documents,

00:01:50:06 - 00:01:53:06
you can use them as are, or you can

00:01:53:13 - 00:01:56:13
write something yourself without reference to these, they are just

00:01:57:11 - 00:01:59:10
there to help you if you’re not used to it.

00:01:59:10 - 00:02:04:07
Down the bottom, you'll find some further
links or links to a user guide and

00:02:04:13 - 00:02:09:06
the really important thing is the discount
request form which is an Excel spreadsheet.

00:02:09:06 - 00:02:12:09
So you download that to your computer

00:02:12:14 - 00:02:17:10
and you're ready
to request discount codes.

00:02:20:01 - 00:02:24:00
So the form will actually open
on this screen here.

00:02:24:18 - 00:02:28:23
So that's just a little bit
more information about how the form, works

00:02:29:17 - 00:02:34:04
All reasonably straightforward and we’ll
demonstrate that in the next few minutes.

00:02:35:12 - 00:02:39:03
Now, just to let you know
that there are some areas in England where

00:02:39:03 - 00:02:45:00
we've combined the allocation in ways
that make more sense where there’s integrated services

00:02:46:23 - 00:02:48:15
serving most areas

00:02:48:15 - 00:02:52:21
The other thing to say about this
is that this is a scheme

00:02:53:10 - 00:02:56:04
for music services, not for music hubs.

00:02:56:04 - 00:02:59:04
And so it'll be the individual services

00:02:59:08 - 00:03:01:13
scheme

00:03:01:13 - 00:03:05:15
on the candidates
tab is where you actually request forms

00:03:05:15 - 00:03:08:06
and when you receive

00:03:08:06 - 00:03:11:24
or open up the form for the first time,
it looks something like this.

00:03:13:24 - 00:03:17:06
The first thing you need to do is select

00:03:17:16 - 00:03:21:17
which sessions, which term
the exam is happening in and

00:03:22:20 - 00:03:26:05
then you select
which part of the country you’re in.

00:03:26:24 - 00:03:31:08
And this will then populate list areas

00:03:31:24 - 00:03:34:24
that you you can select

00:03:37:23 - 00:03:39:14
If you select Northern Ireland.

00:03:39:14 - 00:03:43:07
Your only option is the Education
Authority there.

00:03:43:14 - 00:03:47:13
Otherwise you can select your country

00:03:49:19 - 00:03:52:19
your country and your area

00:03:53:02 - 00:03:56:05
This is normally somewhere in the middle.

00:03:58:20 - 00:04:01:02
Then the only part of the form
you need to worry about

00:04:01:02 - 00:04:06:12
is this grid here.
And some of these some of these columns are locked 

00:04:07:11 - 00:04:10:11
you can't
do anything in that first column.

00:04:12:12 - 00:04:16:13
The column is a look up
and the value columns

00:04:17:09 - 00:04:20:09
are calculated ones

00:04:20:10 - 00:04:22:15
as you move through the form,

00:04:22:15 - 00:04:25:22
it will guide you as to where to go
next to.

00:04:25:23 - 00:04:29:15
though you can fill it in in any way that makes sense to you

00:04:31:01 - 00:04:34:01
you can put candidates names into this form.

00:04:34:14 - 00:04:38:07
We allow that to make it easier
for you to

00:04:39:09 - 00:04:40:11
fill in the form.

00:04:40:11 - 00:04:43:11
If you send the form with candidates
names on

00:04:43:23 - 00:04:48:09
it's actually technically a data breach
and we strongly encourage you

00:04:48:19 - 00:04:51:24
to delete those names before
you send it to us.

00:04:55:11 - 00:04:56:14
They will need a reference

00:04:56:14 - 00:05:00:05
to enable us to identify the candidates.

00:05:00:21 - 00:05:02:04
by preference

00:05:02:04 - 00:05:04:23
Well, we'd like the contact ID

00:05:04:23 - 00:05:08:18
that the ABRSM gives 
to everybody on its database.

00:05:09:15 - 00:05:14:04
If the student that you're entering for
an exam does not yet have a contact I.D.

00:05:14:04 - 00:05:20:06
or if they might have one but you don’t know it you can instead create your own reference,

00:05:20:18 - 00:05:23:24
that should be unique
to every every candidate.

00:05:24:13 - 00:05:28:01
But if you've got one candidate
taking more than one exam, you use the

00:05:28:02 - 00:05:29:13
same reference for that candidate.

00:05:30:13 - 00:05:32:18
So a ABRSM contact I.D.

00:05:32:18 - 00:05:35:16
will usually look something like this.

00:05:35:16 - 00:05:38:16
It's a mixture of letters and numbers.

00:05:39:18 - 00:05:42:03
Your reference can be
whatever makes sense to you.

00:05:42:03 - 00:05:42:20
That's fine.

00:05:42:20 - 00:05:45:23
And that's just to enable you
to find those candidates.

00:05:46:12 - 00:05:49:01
And we will eventually
need the contact ID

00:05:49:01 - 00:05:52:20
but we can provide a discount code
with your reference.

00:05:56:10 - 00:06:00:09
There are a number of reasons
that we have pre-approved for a discount.

00:06:00:16 - 00:06:05:19
So as long as your candidate's
fits in one of these reasons,

00:06:06:06 - 00:06:08:22
you can just make that from the list.

00:06:08:22 - 00:06:13:20
And not worry they’ll be regarded as  ineligible

00:06:14:17 - 00:06:18:05
if they meet the terms of your services
admissions schemes, so if you already

00:06:18:06 - 00:06:22:12
give them a discount on services
then that's pre-approved.

00:06:23:01 - 00:06:24:22
They might have another bursary

00:06:24:22 - 00:06:28:11
like Awards for Young Musicians or in London,
they might be a Mayor’s scholar

00:06:28:20 - 00:06:32:22
So that will be another great reason.

00:06:32:22 - 00:06:36:06
Free School Meals just means that they qualify,
not that they receive them

00:06:36:07 - 00:06:41:16
because every child in that area
or district might receives free school meals.

00:06:41:22 - 00:06:44:03
If they qualify for free school meals,

00:06:44:03 - 00:06:47:13
Then they will qualify for discounts.

00:06:48:19 - 00:06:50:21
Pupil Premium is England

00:06:50:21 - 00:06:55:21
but there’s also Jersey Premiums
so that would sit there. Looked After Child is fairly self-explanatory

00:06:56:12 - 00:06:59:22
The next two are discretionary.

00:06:59:22 - 00:07:03:03
So if you've decided that
in a particular area

00:07:03:23 - 00:07:06:21
you want to give discounts

00:07:06:21 - 00:07:10:08
maybe because there hasn't
been a history in that area

00:07:10:13 - 00:07:14:24
or even in a specific type of school,
you can submit that as well.

00:07:15:17 - 00:07:18:00
Please say in the notes column what

00:07:18:00 - 00:07:21:00
the area of the school is,

00:07:21:17 - 00:07:24:03
loss of work, bereavement,

00:07:24:03 - 00:07:26:16
self explanatory, financial hardship.

00:07:26:16 - 00:07:29:05
(Other) is there too

00:07:29:05 - 00:07:33:03
that collects any other reasons.

00:07:34:02 - 00:07:36:23
You'd be helping us a great deal
if you put in the notes column

00:07:36:23 - 00:07:41:06
What that other financial hardship is.
Just obviously words to explain

00:07:43:08 - 00:07:44:13
would be helpful

00:07:44:13 - 00:07:48:06
special educational needs
with financial hardship.

00:07:48:06 - 00:07:51:06
So additional learning needs with financial hardship

00:07:52:13 - 00:07:55:13
if thats in relation to your area.

00:07:55:14 - 00:08:00:09
Again, useful if you give us notes
about the financial hardship.

00:08:00:13 - 00:08:03:20
Remember,
this is a financial access scheme

00:08:04:10 - 00:08:08:19
and any special needs that the
candidate has will need to be discussed

00:08:08:19 - 00:08:11:21
in the usual way, and you should not

00:08:12:21 - 00:08:15:10
put any access or disability information on this form

00:08:15:10 - 00:08:19:02
or if you've got a candidate
who qualifies under multiple reasons

00:08:19:13 - 00:08:22:22
you can just pick one of those reasons
or you could tell us

00:08:22:22 - 00:08:24:23
about the multiple reasons

00:08:24:23 - 00:08:27:23
if your reason for wanting to give an exam

00:08:28:02 - 00:08:32:15
a discount on exams, sits
outside of these outside of these reasons.

00:08:32:15 - 00:08:35:15
For example, if you select ‘financial hardship: other’

00:08:36:03 - 00:08:39:03
you may just need to check that with us.

00:08:39:11 - 00:08:41:22
We’ll liaise

00:08:41:22 - 00:08:43:22
with the associated board just to make sure

00:08:43:22 - 00:08:46:22
that we’re comfortable with the reason
that you're proposing to give an exam.

00:08:47:01 - 00:08:50:20
But if you're picking any of the other 
reasons off this list

00:08:51:04 - 00:08:53:07
then you don’t need to do this

00:08:56:00 - 00:08:58:02
It would be helpful if you told us the instrument

00:08:58:02 - 00:09:02:05
The list of instruments here is in the
same order as they are on the ABRSM website.

00:09:02:05 - 00:09:05:05
The only exception of that being

00:09:05:17 - 00:09:08:15
if you've got a jazz candidate

00:09:08:15 - 00:09:13:13
than the jazz instrument
is with the instrument in this case.

00:09:15:02 - 00:09:18:02
It's not compulsory on this form but it would be 

00:09:18:18 - 00:09:21:06
of use.

00:09:21:06 - 00:09:22:15
you can book any,

00:09:22:15 - 00:09:25:23
you can request a
discount code for any exam,

00:09:25:23 - 00:09:29:13
that you can book through the ABRSM
including music

00:09:29:20 - 00:09:32:20
theory and practical musicianship.

00:09:33:04 - 00:09:36:04
You pick those off of the list

00:09:36:06 - 00:09:40:23
and that - we’ll go away
and look at the total of things

00:09:41:13 - 00:09:44:12
that you select the level of discount,
you can give any level of

00:09:44:12 - 00:09:47:12
discount, from 5% to 95%

00:09:47:22 - 00:09:51:00
including 33% and 66%

00:09:51:01 - 00:09:55:08
in practicality,
this is a third or two thirds.

00:09:56:04 - 00:09:58:12
That's

00:09:58:12 - 00:10:01:13
the value of the discount
is then calculated and the amount

00:10:01:17 - 00:10:04:17
left for the family to pay 

00:10:04:17 - 00:10:07:17
is is calculated as well

00:10:08:19 - 00:10:09:18
as I've gone through.

00:10:09:18 - 00:10:15:07
You may have noticed
that the yellow highlighting has changed

00:10:15:24 - 00:10:19:23
for things that need sorting out before you can complete the claim

00:10:20:12 - 00:10:23:03
let's do another line

00:10:23:03 - 00:10:26:00
this one Im just gonna put a reference in

00:10:27:10 - 00:10:28:10
a reference really can

00:10:28:10 - 00:10:31:10
be anything that makes sense to you

00:10:32:04 - 00:10:35:13
Next it’s asking for an exam

00:10:36:18 - 00:10:38:19
it will ask for a discount

00:10:38:19 - 00:10:41:19
you can actually type in a discount

00:10:42:09 - 00:10:45:09
on those numbers on a discount are fine

00:10:47:05 - 00:10:51:09
then [it will ask] for a reason.

00:10:51:15 - 00:10:56:05
And at that point
the line is complete and ready to submit

00:11:07:22 - 00:11:10:22
once you filled in all of your candidates

00:11:12:20 - 00:11:14:11
you may have some lines left over.

00:11:14:11 - 00:11:14:24
That's fine.

00:11:14:24 - 00:11:15:16
Just leave them.

00:11:15:16 - 00:11:18:16
The last thing the form will ask you to do is delete candidate names

00:11:18:17 - 00:11:22:24
at which point the claim is ready

00:11:23:17 - 00:11:27:01
there are 20 lines here; if you need 
more than 20 candidates

00:11:27:12 - 00:11:30:12
You can't add lines, you just have to start another form

00:11:30:17 - 00:11:32:23
That's fine; there's no limit.

00:11:32:23 - 00:11:38:07
The only limit will be expense - which is obviously displayed on the form

00:11:39:24 - 00:11:42:24
when you've
put all of your candidates onto the form

00:11:43:00 - 00:11:45:15
and the

00:11:45:15 - 00:11:47:23
the box here has turned green

00:11:47:23 - 00:11:50:23
the form is ready to send. You save it

00:11:51:00 - 00:11:54:00
You will already have deleted
the candidates names by now

00:11:54:06 - 00:11:56:22
and send a copy to info@musicmark.org.uk

00:11:59:14 - 00:12:01:12
Monday to Thursday

00:12:01:12 - 00:12:03:19
We should be able to deal with the forms on the same day.

00:12:03:19 - 00:12:08:01
On Friday it may have to wait until Monday.
it goes to the ABRSM

00:12:08:19 - 00:12:11:22
for them to check
and to issue discount codes.

00:12:12:04 - 00:12:17:09
At present that is a manual process,
so they do need time to do that.

00:12:17:14 - 00:12:21:02
We ask for two weeks - in practice we can usually turn it round

00:12:22:14 - 00:12:25:06
a little bit less than that, but we do ask for two weeks

00:12:25:06 - 00:12:28:22
to go through the whole process
of checking and issuing the discount codes

00:12:29:07 - 00:12:33:02
we’ll send the codes
back to you on the exam for you to enter onto 

00:12:33:02 - 00:12:35:02
the exam portal.

00:12:35:02 - 00:12:37:23
you can only have one discount code

00:12:37:23 - 00:12:42:12
into each entry,
so each candidate will need to be entered

00:12:42:12 - 00:12:46:16
separately as their own entry
with the discount code applied.

00:12:48:07 - 00:12:50:17
If you're doing a private

00:12:50:17 - 00:12:54:15
visit, you can then move each candidate
into your private visit.

00:12:54:16 - 00:12:57:12
You can timetable them,
move them around

00:12:57:12 - 00:12:59:06
as you would for any other candidate.

00:12:59:06 - 00:13:02:16
That point
and there’s information on the ABRSM website,

00:13:03:21 - 00:13:06:21
on 
how to do that.

00:13:08:16 - 00:13:11:12
We will be in touch with some services

00:13:11:12 - 00:13:15:22
to ask about the impacts of the scheme
and to collect

00:13:16:12 - 00:13:21:10
case studies that will aid the evaluation
of the scheme in time.

00:13:21:20 - 00:13:24:20
So please be ready to help us with that.

00:13:25:06 - 00:13:26:10
And remember

00:13:26:10 - 00:13:28:11
if you want to keep the scheme,
if you find it

00:13:28:11 - 00:13:31:23
useful, the best way of ensuring
that is to use it.

00:13:32:09 - 00:13:33:17
We are here to help.

00:13:33:17 - 00:13:37:13
I'm happy to answer questions as is Matthew
and we can sit

00:13:37:13 - 00:13:41:07
with your exam administrator
and run through the scheme at any point.

00:13:41:19 - 00:13:42:20
Help them with the form

00:13:44:01 - 00:13:45:00
and lend support.

00:13:45:00 - 00:13:49:19
There are also regular webinars
that we run with James from ABRSM

00:13:49:19 - 00:13:54:13
and myself to answer questions
that people

00:13:54:13 - 00:13:59:00
might have about the scheme as they go along. So make use of all of those.

00:13:59:00 - 00:14:00:23
Contact us with any questions or problems

00:14:00:23 - 00:14:04:02
that you're having,
and we wish you well with the scheme

00:14:05:04 - 00:14:08:04
and wishes to the candidates