Lessons learned in lockdown

Online prize-giving with pupils and staff

It was a case of intensive teamwork, agile thinking and swift action as we faced the challenges of lockdown earlier this year. As soon as full lockdown looked set to become a reality, the School went into planning mode and it was all hands to the pump to provide pupils “ with material to take home, assess IT needs and investigate new platforms for delivering academic and music teaching. As we pulled out the stops to ensure pupils could return home safely – whether

‘home’ was the Scottish Highlands, Germany or

Spain – it was with a degree of sadness, particularly for those final year pupils missing their last weeks at

St Mary’s Music School, their exams and of course the much anticipated end-of-term round of concerts, competitions and prize-giving.

The Easter holidays saw a frenzy of activity as the Assistant Director of Music developed online versions of music activities (including Aural Classes for the entire summer term), put in place ways to stage performance classes using Microsoft Teams and Zoom and developed a series of online presentations for the whole school to use during Performance Practice.

Fully online and ready to go!

By the start of the summer term, we were ready to go fully online and, from April onwards, delivered weekly pre-recorded assemblies from myself and guests, transmitted lunchtime concerts by staff and distributed our regular Footnotes newsletter to pupils. Music staff switched to Zoom for one-to-one lessons or opted for a submission-based system, while academic staff introduced Microsoft Teams for each subject to support lessons, group-working and pupil discussions.

“Throughout this very different summer term, we invited and incorporated feedback from parents, pupils and staff into our online delivery, and the new, virtual world of St Mary’s Music School was as busy as ever. “

Dr Kenneth Taylor, Headteacher

As staff began to use chatrooms to share ideas and technical tips, we discovered – conversely – that this new way of working often brought people into more regular contact. Throughout this very different summer term, we invited and incorporated feedback from parents, pupils and staff into our online delivery, and the new, virtual world of St Mary’s Music School was as busy as ever. I was delighted to be asked to participate in two online seminars, conducted by the Music Education Partnership Group, where I was able to share the School’s new-found knowledge and experience of delivering online learning with over 300 teachers.

Welcoming a new virtual environment

We transferred our audition process to an online environment, allowing us to continue welcoming applicants from the UK and further afield, and we conducted advisory and live auditions this way too. Even our two-day ‘stays’ saw applicants buddy up with pupils and participate fully in online academic and music classes. Parents’ meetings and prizegiving became virtual events with pupils and staff tuning in from around the world. Sadly, we did make the decision to cancel our Strings Summer School but we delivered our Piano Summer School in an online setting and welcomed young pianists from Hong Kong, Dubai and the UK. The five-day course included interactive sessions, one-to-one lessons and performance classes, as well as superb masterclasses from internationally renowned pianists, Danny Driver and Steven Osborne.