Timings of lessons

30-minute lessons are delivered by our team of Visiting Music Teachers (VMTs). With the exception of Upper 5 and Sixth Form students, where lessons are timetabled in free periods or at lunch/ before or after school, lessons are rotated as much as possible.

Please understand that the timetable requirements of the older students sitting public examinations must take priority in terms of the schedules of the visiting music teachers.

If your child has a lesson before or after school as part of the visiting music teacher’s rota, there are separate procedures in place in terms of access to the Music Department and picking up your child at the end of the lesson (from the Junior School reception area).

Lesson times change each week on a rota system resulting in your child not missing the same school lesson more than once or twice each half term. Some parents may be concerned about this aspect of learning an instrument at school, but experience has shown that students learn to organise themselves well and make up any missed work without problems.

Should your child’s class teacher have a concern about the impact of missing lesson time, you will be informed and all possible arrangements made to support the needs of your child, both in terms of continuing the instrument and classroom learning time.