Your accountLog in Basket Search
English Folk Dance & Song Society English Folk Dance & Song Society
Cecil Sharp House
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
National Youth Folk Ensemble

Support our work

US tax-efficient giving now available

Give now

Support our work

US taxpayers, make a tax-efficient donation and help us to maintain and expand our resources for folk arts practitioners and researchers

Give now

Support our work

We champion folk music and dance at the heart of cultural life, all across England. Can you support the folk arts with a donation today?

Give now

Support our work

We champion folk music and dance at the heart of cultural life, all across England. Can you support the folk arts with a donation today?

Give now

Support our work

We champion folk music and dance at the heart of cultural life, all across England. Can you support the folk arts with a donation today?

Give now
Donate Image Logo
  • Cecil Sharp House
  • Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
  • National Youth Folk Ensemble
  • What’s on
    • How to book
      • Travel to Cecil Sharp House
      • Access at Cecil Sharp House
    • Gigs
    • Classes & Courses
    • Conferences & Talks
    • CPD
    • Dances
      • The Folk Dance Calendar
  • Learning
    • Young People
      • National Youth Folk Ensemble
      • Dance
      • London Youth Folk Ensemble
      • Disabled Young People
      • Folk Unlimited
    • Adults
      • Cecil Sharp House Choir
      • Sunday Folk Music Workshops
      • Dance Classes
      • Lectures and Talks
      • Monday Folk Singers
      • Folk Beyond
      • FAQs
    • Families
      • Family Barn Dances
      • Family Friendly
    • Practitioners
      • Professional Development
      • Dance Development
      • Folk Education Network
    • Resources
      • Beginners’ GuidesBeginners’ Guides
      • GlossaryGlossary
      • A-ZA-Z
      • Resource Search
    • Schools & Colleges
      • Artsmark
  • Artist Development
    • Artists
      • Showcases
      • Commissions
      • Bursaries
      • Bursary stories
      • Bursary reports
      • Micro Grants
      • Musicians in Museums
      • Other Opportunities
    • Partners
      • Associate Company
      • Associate Artists
      • English Folk Expo
    • Folk Discovery
      • Bhangra Ceilidh
    • At Cecil Sharp House
      • Programming
      • Exhibitions
  • Support us
    • Donate now
      • General donation
      • Regular donations
      • Gifts in wills
      • US giving
    • Support an activity
      • Library
      • Dance Development
      • National Youth Folk Ensemble
      • Children and Young People
      • Artist Development
    • Membership
      • Starter Membership
      • Individuals
      • Groups
      • Libraries and Institutions
      • Insurance
      • Member Dance Clubs
    • Folk Shop
      • CDs
      • Publications
      • Book and CD Sets
      • Merchandise
    • Gift vouchers
  • About us
    • What we do
      • News
      • Advocacy
      • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
      • Press and Media
      • Library
      • Partner Organisations
      • APPG for Folk Arts
    • Who we are
      • Staff
      • President
      • Board
      • Annual reviews
      • Annual General Meetings
    • Our history
      • Past projects
      • Gold Badge Awards
      • Local Heroes
    • Publications
      • Folk Music Journal
      • English Dance and Song
    • Folk Player
      • In the Archive With...
      • Listen: Classic Folk
      • Folk Folk
      • Old Songs Podcast
      • Young Folk Club Playlists
    • Work for us
      • Vacancies
      • Work Experience
      • Volunteer
  • Venue Hire
    • Seperator Test (3)
    • Seperator Test (4)
    • Seperator Test (5)
    • Hire our Venue
      • Weddings
    • Seperator Test
    • Seperator Test (2)
    • Seperator Test (3)
  • Members’ area

Building on the success of Inclusive Folk

Sunday 1st of September 2019

2020 Cecil Sharp House Choir

English Dance and Song Autumn 2019

This article was published in English Dance and Song, the magazine of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The world’s oldest magazine for folk music and dance, EDS was first published in 1936 and is essential reading for anyone with a passion for folk arts. 

 

EFDSS’ Education Manager Cassie Tait discusses our pilot project for disabled young people – and how we intend to build on it.

Last year, EFDSS launched Inclusive Folk – a seven-month pilot project developed to increase access to folk arts opportunities for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEN/D), their friends, family and carers. This project was made possible with the generous support of the grant-giving charity funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery

 

Emmie Ward, lead tutor for the project, brought her many years of teaching experience in SEN/D settings and as a folk musician to develop the approach and methodology for the project, in collaboration with core tutor team, Joe Danks and Freda D’Souza, our trainee. The team grew as we delivered outreach work, with Aimee Leonard, Beth Gifford, Jo May, Pete Watson, Kerry Fletcher, Matt Brooks and Ben Moss all contributing their own specialist knowledge and skills.

The project included establishing Folk Unlimited’s regular music and dance sessions at Cecil Sharp House; delivering workshops in six outreach settings; the creation of a new learning resource for EFDSS’ free online Resource Bank; and training opportunities for folk educators.

Folk Unlimited, with fortnightly sessions on Sunday afternoons, has offered a regular music provision for disabled young people that is totally inclusive and engages participants and also their carers and friends. In addition to offering music-making, song and dance of a very high quality with professional folk musicians, these sessions have also provided a supportive, social and friendly place for our core group of eight participants and their families to meet. Feedback has been positive, with comments that the sessions have been a valuable and creative part of the lives of carers and young people alike, enhancing their confidence, interpersonal skills and sense of wellbeing. Each session has been themed to explore a different part of the UK or further afield, looking at dance, music, song and stories from the region. Participants have had the chance to develop their musical ability and understanding of cultural heritage. From coal mining and rapper dancing in the north east of England, to ‘Hal an Tow’ and the Helston Furry Dance in Cornwall, we have looked at seasonal and geographical traditions. With each session, we found an object of reference to attach with Velcro to our ‘messy map’, a map of the UK we displayed to remind us where we have been and what we have learned.

We have formed and strengthened connections with SEN/D schools, colleges and arts providers in our neighbouring London boroughs, delivering 20 workshops in six SEN/D settings in Brent, Camden, Hackney and Westminster. With positive feedback and a strong evident demand for more of this work to take place, we aim to build on this partnership work.

EFDSS held two music festivals at Cecil Sharp House, inviting groups of young people from our partner settings to come and celebrate spring and summer with us. These events were a fantastic opportunity to bring young people together through maypole and ceilidh dancing, music and song workshops and arts activities, and the days were a huge success.

A newly-created free online digital resource is now available to support teachers and musicians, wherever they are based, to use the folk arts in inclusive learning. Created by Emmie Ward and Joe Danks, Songs of May: using folk arts in inclusive settings is based on material celebrating May traditions, and contains audio, notation, lyrics and teaching notes. You can find the resource at efdss.org/songs-of-may

Through a traineeship, planning and co-tutoring, volunteer opportunities and a continuing professional development (CPD) training day, this project has given us the opportunity to share skills and build experience in inclusive learning across EFDSS staff and amongst folk educators.

We are committed to securing further funding so we can continue to provide opportunities for disabled young people to engage with folk music and dance. This includes the continuation of our Folk Unlimited sessions and our projects with SEN/D schools and colleges. With more funding, we’ll also be able to develop further online resources to be used freely by anyone – around England and beyond. We have learned so much from these projects and cannot wait to develop them further.

Visit efdss.org/folkunlimited

 





Contact us
Travel
Access
Folk Shop
The Folk Dance Calendar
Policies
Safeguarding
Code of Conduct
Booking T&Cs
Terms of Use & Cookies
Facebook
Instagram
Bluesky
YouTube
LinkedIn
TikTok
Subscribe to our newsletter

English Folk Dance and Song Society, Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 7AY, UK.
Tel: 020 7485 2206 | Email: [email protected] | Registered charity number 305999
Cookies: The English Folk Dance and Song Society’s websites use cookies: please read our cookie policy for more information.

© 2025 EFDSS.
Supported by Arts Council England