At Malmesbury School we offer a wide range of peripatetic lessons in music for all our students from Year 7 to Year 11. Our peripatetic teachers are self-employed and whilst we co-ordinate the dissemination of applications for lessons to the teachers, the school does not directly employ the teachers. All peripatetic teachers do have to have an up-to-date enhanced disclosure in order to work in school, and lessons all take place in our five purpose-built practice rooms.

Lessons can be provided for the following instruments:

Piano – on a school piano

Woodwind – Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone, Bassoon

Strings – Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

Brass – Trumpet, Trombone, Cornet, Horn etc.

Guitar – Acoustic, Electric, Classical, Electric Bass

Drums – on the school’s drum kit

Singing – in a range of styles from musical theatre to classical and pop

In some cases we have several teachers for an individual instrument because demand is so high. In general, you will need to provide an instrument if your child would like to have lessons, but we do have a small collection of instruments at school. Some teachers are able to get loan instruments from the county Music Hub if you cannot or do not wish to provide an instrument for your child either at first or in the long term. Lessons generally cost around £16 for a 30 minute lesson, but this varies very slightly from teacher to teacher and other lesson lengths are also available. Please note that you will be required to pay for peripatetic lessons at the beginning of each term and you will need to provide a term’s written notice in order to cancel lessons. For students who have received Free School Meals in the last six years we are able to pay for a student to have free music lessons over a fixed period.

In Years 7 through to 9 we operate a rota system for our students so that their lesson time changes every two weeks but always on the same day. These lessons take place during the school day and can be up to 30 minutes long. In Years 10 – 13 teachers try to have a fixed lesson time for students so that they do not miss core lessons, and this may be during lunch, before or after school.

Research has shown that there is a very positive impact of music lessons on a child’s development and as our students progress through the school, they discover that the resilience, independence and creativity shown through learning to play a musical instrument, is a positive factor in applying for university.

If you would like your child to benefit from having musical instrument lessons at Malmesbury School please complete this Music tuition form