Announcing the award, Peter Peacock, Education Minister, said: “We have pupils of outstanding aptitude in local schools the length and breadth of the country. In addition, there are pupils with exceptional talents who attend our national centres of excellence.

“We want to encourage and allow our young talent to flourish and the extra funding for the School of Traditional Music will help it strengthen what it does and make an even bigger contribution into the future.”

Dougie Pincock, director of the national centre of excellence, said: “This funding increase will put us on a secure footing for at least the next three years and allow us to consolidate our work so far.

“We see the increase as an acknowledgment by the Executive of the standards we have achieved in the relatively short span of our existence so far.”