Balancing Financial Sustainability, Culture, and Impact
2025 was a pivotal year for Services For Education, marked by strategic renewal, expanding music and educational programmes, innovative fundraising, and a deepening commitment to inclusivity and community impact. Their new strategy sets a clear direction for the future, ensuring SFE remains at the forefront of educational and cultural development in Birmingham.
Strategic Direction & Organisational Growth
New Strategy Launched: In September, we unveiled our new 2025–2028 Strategy, shifting from a five-year to a three-year planning horizon. This reflects a deliberate move towards greater agility and responsiveness in a rapidly changing educational landscape. The strategy was shaped through extensive stakeholder engagement and focuses on excellence, collaboration, and meaningful impact for children, young people, and educators in Birmingham and beyond.
We are deeply grateful for the contributions of our external stakeholders and colleagues. Your insights and feedback have been invaluable in helping our Board of Trustees and Senior Leadership Team shape a strategy that is both grounded and forward-looking.
This is more than a document — it’s a commitment. A commitment to excellence, to collaboration, and to making a meaningful difference in the lives of children, young people, and educators.
We invite you to explore the strategy, share your thoughts, and join us on this exciting journey ⇒.
Together, we’re bringing music and learning to life.
Sharon Bell, Chief Executive
Social impact & outreach
- Health & wellbeing: our “Health for Life” programme in primary schools was recognised as a milestone for children’s healthy lifestyles.
- Inclusive Programmes: We continue to prioritise inclusivity, ensuring children with special educational needs and disabilities had access to music and learning opportunities.
- Community Engagement: Through projects and events, we have strengthened ties with local communities, supporting wellbeing and fostering a sense of belonging among participants.
Music & cultural engagement
- Music Education at the Core: We continued to champion music education, inspiring and nurturing talent across schools and community settings. Our charitable projects, such as the #MusicCan campaign, highlighted the transformative power of music in young lives.
- Outdoor Festival & Events: We hosted events such as the Outdoor Festival 2025 🔗 and Youth Proms ⇒ which brought together students, teachers, and the wider community to celebrate learning and creativity. Our young musicians were selected for Royal Albert Hall proms performance took part in the prestigious Youth Music concert before an audience of around 5,000.
- Community & Inclusive Choirs: The Birmingham Inclusive Choir ⇒ and Community Choirs ⇒ saw significant growth, with regular participation and positive feedback from families. These initiatives reinforced SFE’s commitment to inclusivity and community engagement through music.
Educational provision & support
Comprehensive Professional Development: We maintained a strong focus on empowering educators and school leaders through a wide range of professional development opportunities. This included ongoing CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses, updated safeguarding training, and targeted support for school improvement initiatives.
Resources
New online interactive courses – add video in
Partnerships, Fundraising & Recognition
- Charitable Fundraising: Our fundraising efforts included innovative events like their first tandem skydive, with staff and supporters raising funds to expand access to music education. Our free outdoor festival last May was only made possible through the generosity of our supporters. Sky DIve
- Partnerships: Commonwealth Day & Lead Schools, CPOMs:
- Our Trustees: This year we welcomed two leading and experienced educationalists who have been appointed to the board of trustees – Eluned Mansell and Oliver Wilson ⇒. We would also like to recognise the achievement of our trustee and former chair Sarah Smith on obtaining the award of MBE ⇒.
- Media Recognition: Our work and achievements were regularly featured in the media, highlighting our impact and raising our profile within the sector. [sfecharity.co.uk], [linkedin.com] ADD Sharon’s conference, Wit & Grit
Thank you
To all our our supporters we want to express an enormous amount of gratitude to all who support our charitable causes, it really makes a difference.
And to our staff and trustees, we thank you for your hard work, loyalty and enthusiasm. It helps us to bring music and learning to life.
2025 Facts and Figures
Looking ahead
- Commitment to Agility: Our new three-year strategy signals our readiness to adapt to future challenges and opportunities, with a focus on sustaining and expanding our impact in Birmingham and the wider region
- Invitation to Collaborate: We invite stakeholders, partners, and the community to engage with our new strategy and join us in our mission to bring music and learning to life.
Previous year’s reviews
