We approach criminal conviction purely from a supportive point of view. Telling us will not influence your application or be passed on to staff without consent.  If you need time away from your studies for probation requirements or commitments relating to your conviction, we will do our best to accommodate these requests.

We can also disclose your conviction to your teaching staff if you feel that would be helpful. This may be the case if details of your conviction ever became public, giving you a chance to state your experiences and possibly how you have changed since the conviction.

Some of our programmes and some modules will require a DBS check before students can access them, and for the majority of convictions, this will not be an issue. The only cases where this is likely to be an issue is for those barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.

Programmes which require a DBS check are:

• PGCE: Musicians in Education
• MA Music Education and Performance
• The Teaching Musician – Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and MA
• Postgraduate Diploma Community Dance
• BA (Hons) Music Education

There is a module of the BMus programme, ‘Artist as Educator’ that is likely to require a DBS check. Alternatives will be provided if you are on the barred list.

Our annual festival of collaboration, CoLab, runs across the majority of our programmes and some specific projects may require you to have a DBS check. With often over 100 projects running there will be alternative projects which do not require a DBS, however being on the barred list may limit your options.

Unlock

Unlock is an independent award-winning national charity that provides a voice and support for people with convictions who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record, often long after they have served their sentence.

NACRO

Nacro is a national social justice charity which gives practical advice for people with criminal records, such as applying to university ,or disclosing a criminal conviction.