Music development plan summary:
The Windsor Boys’ School

Overview

This is a summary of how our school delivers music education to all our pupils across three areas – curriculum music, co-curricular provision and musical experiences – and what changes we are planning in future years. This information is to help pupils and parents or carers understand what our school offers and who we work with to support our pupils’ music education.

Part A: Curriculum music

Our curriculum has 5 key purposes that we seek to embed in our lessons:
Creativity, Curiosity, Culture, Collaboration & Confidence.

We intend to reach all students through a well sequenced and planned curriculum that is relevant, up-to-date and part of a journey from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 5 (and beyond). We intend to grow creative, curious, cultural, collaborative and confident musicians.

Music is taught to all Year 9 students who receive one hour of music per week.

At Key Stage 3 students have the opportunity to play drums, guitar and keyboard. We also use singing and body percussion in lessons to enhance learning. A great deal of time is also spent using Music Technology, allowing students to develop their skills in this area. Outside of the curriculum, students can try range of instruments in our beginner orchestra, and through workshops with specialist teachers. Our key stage 3 curriculum is a knowledge rich curriculum that challenges students to embrace listening, performing and appraising. We aim to provide students with the skills required to progress to KS4.

At KS4 we offer two pathways – GCSE Music & VCERT Music Technology. Students receive 5 hours face to face teaching per fortnight. We teach the NCFE VCERT in Music Technology, and we believe our Key Stage 3 programme supports all students opting for this pathway. For GCSE we teach the Edexcel specification. For this pathway we ask that they play an instrument, or start to learn, and we do require them to be part of the wider life of the music department. We have a fully equipped music computing room to allow students to compose, create and explore music.

At KS5 we offer A-Level Music using the Edexcel specification as this links well with the GCSE specification and style of learning allowing students a positive transition to the next level.
Students who have peripatetic music lessons have opportunity to sit graded music exam. These are organised directly with the teacher and are fully supported by the school.

We work closely with our music hub, who provide workshops and support for our students. We also work with local & national providers to ensure that students get the very best opportunities. We work with local venues including the theatre, arts centre and town centre. As of 2026 we have a firm partnership with The Old Court Art Space and Long Walk Live. We also have a long-standing relationship with Eton College.

Part B: Co-curricular music

Students have the opportunity to learn instruments one-to-one outside of lesson time with a peripatetic teacher. Alternatively, students can also learn instruments with our beginner orchestra, band programme and guitar club. We encourage senior students to inspire and teach, as well as lead and mentor younger students which is highly beneficial for all students involved. Our Year 9 and 10 musical productions are student led, and we find that students get a huge amount from this. For all our instrumental lessons we use the company Musicscool – www.musicscool.co.uk/windsor

Students are given the opportunity to join the following ensembles which are all offered free of charge:

• Beginner Orchestra
• Orchestra
• Big Band
• Rock Band
• Guitar Club
• Boys Choir
• Composition Club
• Percussion Ensemble
• Musical Theatre

Students are encouraged to work with several local partners including Long Walk Live, The Old Court, Windsor Festival and Berkshire Music Trust. We also work closely with local churches and venues to stage concerts and events.

Where the cost of accessing an instrument may be prohibitive, we are able to provide instruments on loan through The Friends of Windsor Music. We also support students through our charity, providing financial support where necessary. The company we use for instrumental lessons may also offer financial support to students who are Pupil Premium or on any kind of income support.

All extra-curricular & co-curricular in-school clubs are entirely free and open to all. Students are given information on when groups meet, and they are then welcome to join. Commitment and hard work is encouraged but we also understand that students all work at a different pace. We work around other school commitments and offer flexibility to those students involved in other aspects of school life.

Where students have their own band or ensemble, we are happy to provide a rehearsal room, equipment and support. The Friends of Windsor Music kind contributions allow us to employ a music technician who supports our bands and runs a guitar club. We also rely on parents to support students, some of whom are teachers, musicians or professionals in the music industry.

Part C: Musical experiences

We are fortunate to have a vibrant calendar of musical events and opportunities, including assembly performances, concerts and shows, as well as trips to professional concerts.

Across the coming year we have a wide range of musical experiences available to our students:

• Termly Upper Schools concerts
• Termly Night at the Musicals
• Small recitals every half term
• November musical
• Christmas programme including carol services.
• October Senior Music Tour (years 12 & 13)
• April Spring Music Tour (all years)
• Young Voices 2027
• Long Walk Live 2027
• Windsor Festival 2026/27
• Year 9 & Year 10 Junior Musicals
• Trips to see Opera & Musical Theatre.
• Annual panto trip
•  

Across the year we will also support a wide range of charity and community events which allows students even wider opportunities to perform in the community. Some of these activities are paid for by parents but supported by The Friends of Windsor Music. All concerts and shows where the students perform are free for students to take part in, with the exception of Young Voices and the Long Walk Live. We work closely with The Old Court, Windsor Festival and the Theatre Royal Windsor. This ensures our young people have access to high-quality performances both as an audience member and as a performer. We also enjoy a good relationship with Eton College and have access to their theatre for a musical production that we stage every 3 years.

Every Christmas we lead whole school singing assemblies as part of our Christmas programme. We also encourage regular performances in assembly to ensure all students are exposed to musical performances (in addition to those in lessons).

Through The Friends of Windsor Music, we organise an annual Music Department Riverboat Prom to mark the end of the academic year and to give students of all ages the opportunity to celebrate their achievements. We also organise an annual Family Barbecue, bringing together students, friends, parents and carers to celebrate music strengthen and our school community. Termly meetings with The Friends of Windsor Music ensures that parents and carers are fully engaged and supportive of our work. We are also very grateful to have a wonderful network of parent/carer volunteers for our events.

We are proud to have strong links with the local council, Windsor Castle and Rotary. The music department are regularly asked to perform for local and national events, including events for members of the Royal family.

In the future

Over the course of this year we are planning to expand the work of the charity and therefore benefit more students. We are looking to employ more practitioners to lead musical groups and purchase more instruments to loan to students.

The curriculum is set to expand to ensure more students develop keyboard skills – something we find is lacking when they join us in Year 9. The purchase of new instruments will help to make this possible. We are also eagerly anticipating the release of a new national curriculum, and we want to be at the cutting edge of this new document. We plan to adapt our curriculum for year 9 as soon as this is released (May/June 2027).

In May 2027 we are hosting a national music conference, and we believe this will benefit the students a huge amount. They will be prominently involved in the event as performers but also have a chance to access an amazing wealth of national expertise.

In the future we would like to see more students accessing GCSE and A-Level music, continuing to buck the national trend. We also want to see more students playing instruments and singing in choirs. We aim to achieve this by continuing to keep things open and inclusive but also challenging and inspiring students to be aspirational as musicians.

Our community work is already a strong pillar of our offering, but our intention is for this  to expand. We see a huge opportunity to get students volunteering and involved with other trust schools in the lead up to key events such as Young Voices and Long Walk Live. We intend to use older students to teach and inspire our younger students, something we hope will be mutually beneficial to all parties. 

The link with The Friends of Windsor Music is crucial to the success of the Music Department. Over the course of the coming year, we want to strengthen the partnership for the benefit of our students. Not only to help raise money, but to ensure that we are getting the most out of the charity. The trustees are committed to helping music to expand across the trust

As a school we want to see GCSE & A-Level results improve further, more students pick up instruments for the first time and more students singing in choirs. Our concerts are already jammed-packed with talent, and we want to ensure this continues. This will come through nurturing musicians and singers.

Over the course of this year, we also want to work more closely with our other WLP schools to ensure that all students are getting the very best music education. It is our firm belief that older students can inspire the younger students and help to cultivate a love of music from Year 1 upwards.

The year ahead will be all about increasing what we offer and building on the current culture of music making in school. More connection with the community will lead to an even stronger culture of making music. And as we develop our curriculum, we believe that we can reach more students through music in the classroom. Our extra-curricular provision will then grow out of his cultivated love of music. We would also like to link up with other local schools to ensure that students across the whole of Windsor benefit from our leading music provision.