Community Interest Company
Making a Difference
Boogie Mites Community Projects CIC has been set up to work with settings and families who would not otherwise be able to access our music making workshops, training and resources. We do this via grant funded projects, local authority funded contracts and we support educators to set up and run Boogie Mites for the benefit of their local community in other areas of the UK.
Boogie Mites music and movement programmes have been developed over 25 years of projects delivered in the state and private sector, our songs, music activities and workshops have been informed by neuroscience evidence and input from teachers, parents and children’s who we have worked with over that time. We always collect feedback from customers to ensure continuing development of practice, and regularly have independent evaluation of impact of our projects carried out.
Funded Projects Impact
At Boogie Mites Community Projects CIC, we are committed to providing access to high-quality music-making workshops, training, and resources for settings and families who might not otherwise have the opportunity. Through grant-funded projects, local authority-funded contracts, and educator-led initiatives, we work to ensure that children, parents, and educators benefit from the proven developmental impact of our music and movement programmes.
To uphold our commitment to continuous improvement and to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we systematically collect feedback and engage in independent evaluations of our projects. These evaluations help us refine our programmes and validate the positive outcomes for children’s learning, teacher confidence, and parent engagement.
This section highlights the impact of our funded projects, showcasing the measurable benefits and the ongoing development of our programmes. From the Lanyado Fund-supported evaluations of our School Ready Music Programme in London schools to our recent initiatives in Portsmouth supporting early years development and inclusion, each project has provided valuable insights into the transformative power of music.
We invite you to explore the findings of these evaluations, which illustrate how Boogie Mites continues to empower educators, engage families, and enhance children’s developmental journeys through music.
“ We have worked with Boogie Mites on a number of projects over the past two years and have always been impressed by their enthusiasm and passion for bringing music and learning to children in the early years. Their ethos and philosophy align well with Home-Start Portsmouth and the families we work with. Recently we have worked together with Boogie Mites to bring the ‘Thrive though Music’ project to the Family Hubs in Portsmouth. The aim has been to bring music and movement sessions to families who are not used to attending such groups. This project has been well received by Portsmouth City Council and the families attending the sessions with some excellent feedback received. It has been a pleasure to work with Boogie Mites who have always been professional and effective in their work; from the delivery of the sessions to the administration and reporting required. It has been great to see and hear the benefits this project has given to the children and parent/carers in Portsmouth.”
London Schools Teacher Training Project 2021-2025
School Ready Music Programme
The Lanyado Fund supported the introduction of the Boogie Mites School Ready Music Programme in six London schools serving areas of high deprivation. Boogie Mites trainers worked closely with EYFS teams to implement music-based learning strategies designed to help close the attainment gap.
The project focused on enhancing early language, literacy, and social development by delivering music workshops to all pre-school children and targeted Year R pupils. Staff training ensured the programme could be embedded into daily practice, maximizing long-term impact.
Evaluation results were highly positive—read the full report here:
Phase 2 - Revisiting The Schools
The evaluation of phase 2 of the project highlights the Boogie Mites School Ready Music Programme’s inclusive design, effectively engaging children with special educational needs and children learning English as an additional language. Additionally, it promotes accessibility through parent involvement and supports home learning, ensuring long-term benefits for families.
Read the evaluation report for the for the first four schools here:
St. Georges Beneficial Primary School 2024
School Ready Music Programme
Boogie Mites worked with the Early Years Foundations Stage team, at St. George’s Beneficial Primary School in Portsmouth, to deliver this Boogie Mites School Ready Music Programme Project.
The project aimed to increase teacher and parent knowledge, confidence and resources to enable them to use active music making to support children’s development.
The project focused on the development of children’s pre-literacy skills in line with Phase One Letters and Sounds, boosting their speech, language, social and emotional skills, physical development, foundations for maths and for music.
Outcomes were very positive, read the full report here:
Portsmouth Family Hubs 2024
Under 3's Thrive Through Music
This project was designed to engage parents attending Stay and Play sessions at Family Hubs in Portsmouth in group music making sessions. Explaining to parents the benefits of developing rhythmic and melodic awareness to strengthen children’s foundations for language and literacy, wellbeing and social skills.
We also encouraged parents to practice music activities with their children at home, and to use the Boogie Mites Under 3’s App to strengthen the benefits of repeating the same music activities at home as they were experiencing in the group.
The feedback showed that the parents enjoyed the sessions and that the parents, as well as the children, gained skills from taking part in the workshops.
Mary Rose Academy 2024
PCC Inclusion Grant 2024
Mary Rose Academy is a special education school where all pupils have moderate to severe physical and/or learning disabilities. There are also a considerable number of students with autism spectrum disorder. Boogie Mites music sessions were adapted to give maximum inclusion and ensure all children could take part in their own way.
For many children with additional needs it is very difficult for them to express themselves, especially if they are non-verbal. Music is often the key to sharing their feelings, there were some really joyful moments during the sessions.
Parents were given ideas to use at home with the Boogie Mites app so they can continue to enjoy music time together with confidence.
Chichester University Research
The Research Project
Impact: Parents
Impact: Children
Impact: Practitioners
An evaluation of Boogie Mites early years music education programmes
Research conducted by Chichester University concluded that Boogie Mites music programmes make a real difference to parents and practitioners of children in early years. The research objectives were:
- To explore the influence of the Boogie Mites programmes on parental knowledge, confidence and home practise
- To investigate the impact on children’s language, communication, physical, emotional and social development, as perceived by parents
- To evaluate practitioner’s perceptions following training sessions by Boogie Mites
Parental knowledge, confidence and home practice
Boogie Mites sessions encouraged parents to make the links between the EYFS prime areas of learning and the use of music both at the session and in the home. Parents reported that they felt more confident to use music with their children at home and as part of everyday life. The parents’ increased confidence had a knock-on effect on their child’s confidence.
Children’s development as perceived by parents
Quantitative data supported the inference that attending the Boogie Mites courses and practising at home promotes children’s social, communication and physical development. A very large majority of parents reported observing some or a lot of improvements in all 3 Prime areas.
Practitioner confidence and sharing best practice
A significant number of practitioners said that Boogie Mites training gave them the confidence to implement music-making in their setting. After completing their training, there was an explosion of enthusiasm, eagerness and willingness to implement what they had learnt. They were inspired to share what they learnt with the rest of the colleagues in their setting.
Delivering Impact
Nursery Group Training
Nursery Case Studies
EYPP funding
Transition Courses
Intergenerational
Training and implementation of Boogie Mites School Ready programme at Happy Days Nurseries (2024)
Boogie Mites training was held on three Saturdays in November 2023 to introduce the School Ready Music Programme to all 21 nurseries.
An implementation plan supported practitioners to gain confidence over time in leading and extending the songs during both adult led music sessions and everyday routines.
This systematic approach ensured that the Boogie Mites School Ready Programme is embedded within Happy Days Nurseries, building strong foundations for children’s learning particularly within the areas of communication, language and literacy.
Boogie Mites School Ready programme at Little Bears Forest School, Portsmouth
Following onsite training in autumn 2022, the team at Little Bears Forest School implemented the Boogie Mites School Ready programme into their setting.
Following the onsite training, the staff used the digital resources to ensure everyone understood how to teach the each of the songs. Staff continue to use the digital training resources to get new ideas or reflect on how they have done something.
Download the case study report to find out how the programme is being used at Little Bears Forest School in Portsmouth, and the wonderful positive impact it is having on the children and staff.
How training made a difference
In June 2016, ten Paint Pots Nurseries in Southampton invested their EYPP to fund Boogie Mites practitioner training.Cat Baker, Quality and Curriculum Manager Paint Pots Nursery Group led a case study to assess the impact of the implementation of regular Boogie Mites music activities on children’s development.The study concluded that “Girls and boys across the settings have shown an average development rate increase of almost five months in comparison to the same period the previous year.” The case studies of individual EYPP funded children also identified a positive impact on development.Find out more about how Boogie Mites training can make a difference
Boogie Mites transition courses help parents and children get school ready
In response to the pandemic, we developed an online course format for Hampshire County Council which included RARPA (Recognising and Recording of Progress and Achievement). Data collected was independently evaluated by Achievement For All (AFA).
AFA concludes: “The impact on parental knowledge around how their children learn and develop is an area of significant success with 100% of parents knowing at least a little about Letters and Sounds Phase 1 and are now able to recognise their child’s learning and development in relation to this.”
Wellbeing and community cohesion through music
In 2019 three settings caring for older people enjoyed weekly visits from children aged 10 months – 4 years, for shared music-making.
PhD student Liv McLennan gathered feedback from parents, practitioners and the older people taking part to evaluate the impact on wellness for all involved and community cohesion.
The conclusion was positive with a marked ‘feel good’ impact on all participants as well as benefits for confidence and social skills being observed.