Secondary schools for a girl chorister

[Londonbabyland]

DD has joined an advanced chorister program that lasts Y4-Y8 which gives students a pathway into music scholarships and choral places at top independent schools. However, this has been the case for boys because girls have only been introduced in some cathedral choirs in the past 1-2 years,so many of secondary school options with advanced choral training aren't available to DD. She has instruments too (piano grade 5 at age 8 + starting 2 more at basic level). Academics are strong too.

Which secondaries are keen on this kind of profile and could offer the best support choral/music wise with potential scholarships?

Her primary goes up to 11 so unless we home ed 11-13 we'd look for 11+ entrance.
Location is flexible within London.

Considering both state and independent (with support).

The state options suggested were St Marylebone Girls and Henrietta Barnett (not sure how big the music offering there is) and with many single sex schools becoming co-ed e.g Westminster School, Wetherby (entry at 11 and 13),I wonder which ones are worth booking the open day for?

Pointers appreciated.

@Aitai thank you for the insight,didn't know Alleyn was so excellent musically.

Trinity in Croydon have a strong boys choir and are going co-ed from September 2027. They already have girls in the sixth form. They are focused on extending the opportunities their boys choir has to girls. The music and drama provision is also excellent. I have no idea how it stacks up against some of the other schools mentioned but might be worth considering depending where in London you are based. https://www.trinity-school.org/finding-their-voice/

Fortismere has no music to speak of, there are lots of MC children that play instruments but it's not because the school has good provision, they mostly go to local Colourstrings, JDs or private teachers.

St Marylebone was not mentioned yet but I'm sure you know it.

I can’t offer advice on schools in London, but you mention scholarships. I‘m not sure if you’re looking for fee assistance, but music scholarships often offer little monetary value these days (schools will often cover the costs of individual music lessons and perhaps offer a small fee reduction on school fees). If you are looking for fee assistance for the actual school fees, you’ll need to look at bursaries which are means tested. They are not as readily available since the introduction of VAT on fees, as many schools are putting those funds into existing pupils who are now struggling with the fees.

Some second tier private schools in London still offer music scholarships of up to 50%. Our friends got offered this amount from two schools last year, one was a solely music offer, the other academic and music combined. Children were around grade 7-8 on two instruments.

@Another76543 Thank you. Yes, both scholarships and bursaries (in case it's needed at the time of application). I understand re bursary reductions, City Juniors stopped them this year altogether and I've heard other schools reduce them too. @Ubertomusic that's good to know though I'm not second tiers are worth it vs outstanding state in Central London even with a large fee reduction.

By second tier I mean schools like City, South Hampstead, Alleyn's, Habs, Dulwich, JAGS, LEH etc. Whether they're worth it is debatable of course :)

My DD’s were choristers but attended state school, both stayed until 16 as choristers then one was a choral scholar until 20. The kids attended various schools at their cathedral and went after school.

@Ubertomusic ah, those are still in top 20 (or so) for the country so probably first Tier but not elite in my books.

Yes, I checked with Chatgpt and Fortismere stopped offering music places sometime between 2012 and 2021.
It took a while for me to get AI to generate a (girls or co-ed state) list that might be reasonably complete but this is what it came up with (see below). Although of course some of these are top tier grammars so it's a MAT post an 11+. This list also doesn't mean these schools are all fantastic at music - it can just be that they prop up their music provision (which is sadly declining in a lot of schools) by having students who will at least sit GCSE music and means the school can put together a reasonable orchestra/band.

AI generated list
Ashmole Academy
Mill Hill County High School
Ada Lovelace
Twyford CofE
Ealing Fields
West London Free School
Camden School for Girls
William Ellis (pretty sure this is boys!)
Hatcham College
Prendergast
St Marylebone
St Mary's & St John's
Saint Cecilia's
Harris Academy Wimbledon
Claremont High School
St Paul's Way Trust
Enfield Grammar
Tiffin
Wilson's

@hothousingforsats thank you very much for taking the time to generate and share it! Plenty of names to delve into.

I'm fairly sure Tiffin girls doesn't have music places (unless this has changed recently).

Well I'm not sure it's wholly accurate (definitely some boys schools on there, and Chiswick is missing) but I guess it's a start!