Ed Sheeran's school drop-in magical, say students

A student who met Ed Sheeran as the star launched a music education foundation, said the meeting was a real surprise.

Sheeran took students and staff aback when he toured three Coventry locations, where he also performed on Thursday, as well as playing in Edinburgh and Cardiff.

The singer-songwriter's visits were to publicise the foundation, an organisation supporting the teaching of music in schools.

Joel Miles, 15, from Barr's Hill School said seeing Sheeran perform was "a really nice experience".

The Suffolk-born musician was given a tour of three locations in the city by Coventry Music Service (CMS), a council-run operation which supports schools across the area.

He went to a creative beat-making, rap and grime session at Coventry Academy before heading to a creative music making session, hosted by Barrs Hill School, led by Coventry Music programme SoundLab-Cov.

Sheeran finished his day with a visit to grassroots music venue The TIN Music and Arts.

Mark Steele, CMS's lead, said the day was one of the highlights of his career.

"It was one of the most magical things I've seen," he said.

"He couldn't have given more time to the people that were there and he was just absolutely lovely.

"We were delighted that Ed wanted to come to Coventry to see our work and really enjoyed showing him all the fantastic work that happens here."

Sheeran's foundation has already supported 18 grassroots music education organisations and state school music departments across the UK.

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