“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato

Practical music-making is at the heart of everything we do. Through performance, composition, listening and singing, students explore music as a universal language which embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. We look to engage and inspire pupils, cultivating a love of music. We nurture their talent as musicians and develop a set of skills and qualities that will improve them as whole people.

The department is housed in its own bespoke building with two teaching rooms, six practice rooms, each equipped with pianos, a drum kit and amplifier, a larger rehearsal room and a recording studio. One of the teaching rooms also benefits from computers running various specialist music software including Sibelius, Musescore and SoundTrap. We have a range of musical instruments that are used as part of our curriculum including class sets of djembes, guitars, keyboards, a full range of percussion and a set of steel pans.

The Key Stage 3 curriculum is broad and varied; we explore music from many styles, genres and cultures, igniting a passion for the subject. Students will encounter challenges in their practical music-making for which they will have to demonstrate perseverance and problem-solving skills. They will need to develop their communicative skills and collaborate with others and they will be required to work independently and exhibit the determination to improve. By performing to one another, their self-confidence will flourish and through composition, they will need to be creative and think critically. At Key Stages 4 and 5, students build on the fundamental skills and knowledge that they have developed in Key Stage 3. Results are excellent at both GCSE and A-level with a high percentage of students going on to study Music at university.

We offer an abundance of performance opportunities, with three large-scale formal concerts taking place throughout the academic year – our Christmas Concert, Carol Concert at All Saints Church and Spring Concert. These are all sell-out events. We also hold a number of other concerts throughout the year including recital concerts, a Rock Concert, Vocal Concert, and a Year 7 Concert in addition to opportunities to perform abroad. Each academic year ends with our summer musical production, in which we always have upwards of 150 pupils involved in the performances.

A key part of our vision is to foster student leadership. We strongly believe in the importance of empowering students from across all year groups and our Ensemble Captains run many of our groups and ensembles in order to support younger students.

We pride ourselves on being inclusive:

Whilst also striving for musical excellence: