The Charter School

The Music Department consistently achieves very high GCSE exam success, this year 95% of the cohort achieved A*–C grades

·    To offer a broad, flexible and motivating curriculum that recognises the different talents of all children that is accessible and delivers excellence to all

·To develop young people’s capacity for original ideas and to develop their awareness of themselves and others

·To encourage students to develop and use creativity and imagination as a learning tool

·To provide opportunities both inside and outside the classroom to extend and challenge our gifted and talented students

·To help students understand, appreciate and make sense of the multi-cultural, multi-media world we live in

·To offer all children the opportunity to learn a musical instrument in addition to the music-making they participate in as part of their general curriculum music lessons

·To encourage students to take part in wide range of musical groups and ensembles so they can take enjoyment in making music together

·To provide our students with a range of formal and informal performance opportunities e.g. whole school concerts, theatre productions, informal lunch time concerts

·To forge links with our local community in order to extend the range of music-making opportunities our students can become involved with e.g. trips, workshops, collaborations with creative educational organisations

·We follow an extensive music curriculum focussing on Performing, Composing/Improvising, Listening and Evaluating

·We study a wide-range of music styles during Years 7, 8, 9 such as the musical traditions of India, Africa, Brazil, Indonesia and the Caribbean.

·We study opera, the symphony orchestra, the western Concerto, Blues and Jazz traditions, and Music Technology.

·This curriculum provides an extremely solid foundation for our GCSE students

·We run a very successful GCSE music course that enables post-16 students successful progression to Arts Higher Education courses and encourages them to see the potential for employment within the arts industries via collaborations with a variety of music industry professionals

·Over 400 pupils participate in extra curricular musical activities by learning an instrument and participating in ensembles.

·We have team of peripatetic instrumental tutors who collectively offer tuition in:

-Acoustic Guitar

-Brass (Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn etc)

-Drum Kit

-Electric Guitar and Bass

-General Percussion

-Keyboards

-Saxophone

-Steel Pans

-Strings (Violin, Viola, Cello Double Bass)

-Vocals

-Woodwind (Clarinet, Flute etc)

·We have a pool of musical instruments that we loan to families free of charge with appropriate insurance wherever possible.

·We also have links with organisations that offer excellent rental schemes, benevolent funds for instrumental purchase for exceptionally gifted students and other organisations

·During our special activities week at the end of the summer term we offer our students in Years 7, 8, 9 the opportunity to participate in a range of workshops with external facilitators

·We are an exceptionally well-resourced department

·We have our own Gamelan

·African and Brazilian drums

·Indian traditional instruments

·Steel Pans

·Computers running software packages such as Cubase and Sibelius

·A range of other instruments from keyboards to guitars

Our music staff provides tuition to the highest standards. All are highly-trained musicians in their own right — many playing professionally which names from Sir Johnnie Dankworth to Take That, London’s Philarmonia Chorus to Roger Daltry

After School Clubs And Ensembles:

·School Orchestra. All orchestral musicians are welcome to attend (strings, woodwind including saxophone, brass). Students should be of at least Grade 2 standard and be able to read music. 

·School Choir. This rock/pop choir is open to anyone who loves singing. 

·Grade 5 Theory Class. Open to anybody who needs to take their Grade 5 theory exam over the next year. We particularly encourage Music GCSE students, Year 9 students intending to take Music GCSE and instrumentalist from any year group who play to a Grade 4/5 standard to take this class. 

·Percussion Group. This is open to all students and will focus on the Samba tradition from Brazil and African drumming traditions. 

·Brass Ensemble

·Keyboard Ensemble

·Rock Bands

·Saxophone Ensemble

·String Ensemble

·Woodwind Ensemble

There are also additional pre-selected groups that students will attend by invitation from the tutors/teachers e.g. guitar groups, vocal groups, whole class activities in preparation for formal events.

Performances:

Throughout the year our students perform both in small groups and also in large concerts that we put on as a school. This includes collaborations with the drama department and for special occasions e.g. to celebrate Black History Month and our school CRE8 Week. Additionally our students perform for local community groups and other local events e.g. the Dulwich Festival.

We also have strong links with a number of outside agencies and groups including:

·Dulwich Youth Orchestra

·National Youth Jazz Orchestra

·Royal Opera House / English National Opera

·The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

·The Horniman Museum

·The City of London Festival

·The Royal Academy of Music

·Trinity College of Music

Our pupils have performed with a range of professional organisations including the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and Royal Opera House where they piloted new opera software. Some of our gifted and talented students attend Trinity School of Music. Sixth Form students’ musical destinations include Royal Academy of Music,  Bristol University and Leeds College of Music.