I WRITE as a concerned student who has benefited from first-class music tuition in Pembrokeshire since I was a little boy.

When I started in Tasker Milward School in 2010 the music department was a vibrant and busy part of the school, with a good-sized orchestra and choir, as well as ample teaching time for the peripatetic instrumental tutors.

Now, six years on, despite still being a vibrant community, through no fault of the school, our peripatetic teaching hours have been decreased so much that students are now having to lead certain ensemble rehearsals that were previously run by our teachers.

And some ensembles have had to stop altogether because there simply is not the time nor the number of performers for them to run.

This is not an issue isolated to Tasker Milward however, as the situation is much the same across the county.

As one example, Greenhill School is in the unfortunate position of charging students for instrumental tuition, something that can prevent children from lower income families from learning to play an instrument or sing.

The issue is not with the school governors, or indeed with the county council – the issue is in the way funding is delivered to the school.

Currently, the school receives money for each pupil on roll, and that money is not specific to any particular department.

As a result, when pupil numbers drop the ‘non-essential’ departments have to be cut in order to make ends meet.

What students so desperately need is a dedicated stream of funding for the arts, protected and based on the real costs of running a department, not on student numbers.

I call on our elected representatives, in County Hall, the Senedd and Parliament to reiterate the importance of music education for young people.

Access to music should be a birthright for every child, and no politician should tell us otherwise.

BEN RICHARDS Deputy Head Boy Tasker Milward VC School