Stormzy should be taught in schools instead of Mozart to prevent pupils from being excluded, a charity study said. Youth Music, a national charity endorsed by the musician and presenter Myleene Klass, is calling for an “urgent transformation” of the music curriculum.

It said that schools need to “shake up” the way music is taught and exchange classical music for grime, hip-hop and electro, with help from music industries.

Last month The Telegraph reported that school exclusions for drugs and alcohol were at a ten-year high, with “county lines” to blame for recruiting youngsters to ferry drugs around the country.

Official data showed that this amounted to a 57 per cent rise, from 360 children in 2006/7 to 565 children in 2016/7.

The Youth Music research comes following a major four-year research programme, entitled Exchanging Notes, which found that young people at risk of exclusion at the start of the programme maintained high levels of attendance throughout.

The study involved 10 partnerships between music organisations and schools nationwide and involved 974 young people.