St. Marylebone school music department

[mummakes]

Does anyone have any advice on the music department at this school? Does anyone have a music scholar at this school? How do you find it?

Isn't this the school your DD is currently at? A post on another thread suggested it might be.

@SE13Mummy Was just wanting some opinions on St.M music department. Do you have a kid at St.M? Do you have an opinion on it?

Sounding snippy there mummakes, was that intentional?

@mummakes I don't know enough about your DD's school to have an opinion on its current music provision but I do know a bit about other schools' Y7 music scholar provision this year, about conservatoires, NCO etc. and other funding for musical children.

I asked if your DD was already at St M because you've been very vocal about your dislike for the school on other posts, almost giving the impression that you've been present at PSHE type lessons to report with such clarity the content and delivery of topics you feel your DD shouldn't have been exposed to. I think it's relevant that the question is being asked by a disgruntled parent rather than by a prospective one.

There will be other Y7 children playing stringed instruments at a similar standard to your DD but whose secondary school does not offer any extra curricular music or who do not know about national organisations such as the NCO (or who know about it but who don't qualify for a bursary as they are just over the threshold but still cannot afford it). It may be hard for a panel to see how your DD would be disadvantaged by remaining at her music specialism school whilst also receiving bursaries to national music education organisations such as the NCO and NYC. A child from a middle income family with insufficient disposable income to fund NCO or a conservatoire place but who won't qualify for a bursary (or for any of the many programmes available only to children from low income families) may be felt to be at a greater disadvantage than your DD were they not to secure a place at WLFS. Have you found out from the school if your DD would have access to the opportunities available to the music scholars were you to win an appeal for a Y8 place?

Best of luck with your appeal for your now-preferred school. Your DD is clearly a capable musician and is fortunate to have a parent who is very supportive but who also has the skills to be able to access bursaries and opportunities to support her musical development.

Gosh... I feel like you were actually at the appeal. Were you?

I've only once mentioned St. M in response to someone who asked for advice - and I think I was pretty reserved. When talking about the appeal I didn't mention the school, but I guess it is all possible to piece together.

But it seems like I've been outed, along with St. M.

I think St. M is a well meaning school. They are kind and caring. Sometimes I think it's misplaced.

I am very open and don't have problem with my daughter being exposed to any ideas. What I do have a problem with is her being fed ideas with no wider context, worse being fed political ideas in place of RE, English, PHSE and even science. Even worse being fed facts that are in fact misinformation. I'll give an example from RE. Instead of learning about Islam, she was given a lesson on "Islam and gender" - where she is taught nothing about the religion itself, but basically told how liberating a hijab is because it protects women from the glare of "white men". This lesson presents "facts" around racial hatred that seem pretty shocking (far fetched?) and when I look them up, they are based on such weak data that to call this misinformation is a compliment. I don't feel good telling my kid her school tells her rubbish - if she doesn't respect her teachers how can she possibly learn from them. I had to get dd to call a muslim aunty to give her "a real world view" on Islam and feminism, another muslim friend was outraged when I told her. Her mother fought hard for her daughters not to have to wear a hijab (in Pakistan) and said feeding kids this type of narrative silences any girls who might have a problem with it. Where can they go? Moreover to propagate false facts on racism both creates a sense of unhelpful victimhood (I speak from experience), and at the same time highlights problems that are not real instead of dealing with real racial problems - which would be a good thing. Of course I have nothing against girls/women wearing hijabs. But more importantly I think my daughter's RE lesson should really teach about Islam itself, which would be wonderful. Other things they have been taught are celebrating Sylvia Rivera on International Women's day (and not Marie Curie for example) - Rivera (in case you don't know...) is celebrated for throwing the second Molotov cocktail at Police at the Stonewall Riots, aged 17, the girls were also not told this was in fact a drag queen. I'm happy for them to dissect the trans woman v biological woman argument - but not happy for contested issues to be simply presented as fact. The list goes on and on with this stuff. Needless to say the atmosphere in the school is rife with activism, and the girls primed to be social justice warriors. I don't mind kids dabbling in this stuff. It's normal. I was a total activist in my youth and well beyond. I do mind a school pushing it on them. Every time I mention this on posts I am treated like an over-protective mother, but I feel my child's education is being sacrificed for ideology.

I haven't been in lessons of course. I've seen lesson power points. I try not to look most times, which is possibly not the best strategy, but I feel so helpless to change anything, though I've tried.

Thanks for your advice on music. I hear you. We are middle classed in terms of education, but my husband and I are in the arts and financially we are pretty low income. My child does qualify for NCO and NYC bursaries. Honestly keeping up with the cost of lessons itself is a struggle. Over lockdown, just survival has been a struggle. We could really do with theory lessons and sight singing lessons for her - which is what she'd get at the school we want, plus lots of playing opportunities. She would get everything the scholars get, apart from free music lessons, but I would probably try and get scholarships to cover them, plus their music lessons are pretty well subsidised which is great. I worry lockdowns will keep going over autumn and that really means that only schools that are determined to keep on orchestras etc going - will be a space for young musicians (as the are now). Online NCO and NYC have been pretty soul destroying. Though both organisations have made stellar efforts - it just not the same.

My kid is bright (but no genius), but she is starting to fail musically because the whole landscape is so devoid of music outside lessons. I am starting to feel without the confidence of being good in music - the whole pack of cards crumbles. We live in a one-bed flat the lockdown has been tough, financially, physically and now I think my child feels very stifled by school - there is no free exchange of ideas - and she can't say anything outside of the narrative led by the school. There is also zero music.

I ask about the music department at st. M because another mum has said to me on here privately that it has not been great at St. M and I want to see if that is a consensus. It would help drive a next move. After loosing the last appeal I am trying to look realistically at the situation and decide what to do next. I feel dd is failing in both her school education and her music education, and I want to get her out of this downward spiral.

Apologies if I seemed veiled - hope I don't again get taken for a an illiberal over protective mum - because I'm just not. I'm worried and a bit desperate....

if you do sit on panels or have experiance I'd appreciate advice. Though I've had a lot on here that it sounds like you've read - but your insights here have been useful.

Thanks.

I've never sat on/been to a panel so I very definitely wasn't involved with your DD's.

I wonder why you chose St M over WLFS in the first place? Apart from the music and the activism side of things, are there other aspects that are disappointing? A quick glance at the newsletter and website reveals that it's a school keen to nurture students' interest in political, global and equality issues - something many London girls schools in particular seem to be good at championing.

Have you been able to talk to the head of music about how worried you are about your DD? Or to the head of Y7/REP about your curriculum concerns? I think it's important to let schools know about things that aren't working for a child - not necessarily as a complaint - and giving them an opportunity to reflect and respond.

In terms of your DD's music education, before knowing that WLFS offers sight singing and theory classes, did you feel these were going to be essential to her? If so, how did you reconcile choosing St M over WLFS at the time? How much do you know about the level at which the music theory club operates? Music aptitude places won't have been given to students on the grounds of their achievements or playing standard so it's common for theory clubs to be teaching the basics and/or working towards grade 5 theory. Your DD is already grade 7 on two instruments so must have a decent grasp of music theory. As one of those instruments is voice and she sings in NYC, her sight singing is likely to be reasonable.

Reading your posts, you come across as a parent who is panicking that your DD's music education is unravelling because you are a low income family with a non-musical background and if she doesn't access extras at school, she is doomed. She isn't. She has an articulate parent who is ready to fight her corner and secure access to whatever's available. Not everything that's available is necessary and as a non-musical parent I can imagine it may be hard to suss out which opportunities are essentials vs. those that are gimmicky extras. A quick straw poll of the professional musicians I know (there are lots, across a range of genres) reveals that none of them has ever attended a theory club or gone to sight singing lessons. Sight singing is what happens every time your DD's singing teacher introduces a new piece. Music theory can be self-taught using workbooks or online courses. More often, it's picked up through lessons and rehearsals when a marking or symbol is encountered for the first time.

If the music provision this year had been delivered as hoped, do you think you would have been looking to move your DD because of the 'activist agenda' at the school? Is it possible that the disappointment and worry about the music provision, and what you feel that means for your DD's identity as a musician, is making you hypersensitive to other aspects of the school you'd have otherwise felt able to stomach?

Did you consider any of the specialist music schools for your DD? They sometimes take new students in-year and you may qualify for an almost full fees bursary. Perhaps it would be worth having a conversation with a couple of those if your DD has her heart set on being a musician?

Have you talked to your local hub? What opportunities have they got for her? To give you an example - mine has as well as youth orchestra, (you need to be grade 7 plus on strings) there are theory courses including a grade 8 one, county choirs, masterclasses, a grade 8 plus string ensemble and all sorts. We can also help signpost to funding help. (It’s all under pressure at the moment though.) And we’ve kept everything going - this term it’s all been face to face and it was for the first part of last Autumn term as well. If you’re in London, then investigate the junior departments at the conservatoires - they will all be aiming to keep as much face to face as possible.

Everyone is aiming to do as much face to face as possible and local opportunities may be easier than the national ensembles who require residentials.

@SE13Mummy

Thanks for the advice. I think it's a little the opposite of how you read the situation. I am most worried about my child's education. Music of course feeds into this. I'm worried for that too. I am truly grateful for your advice. I think we are slightly talking cross purposes here on the politics. I'm talking about lessons being used to give actual mis-information or presenting contentious views as facts. I find whenever I mention this - it is like water over a ducks back - it is not heard. I'm not sure why. I am happy to hear why this might be okay in someone's view, and feel I should be open to a discussion like that. Certainly when I bring it up with the school there is a pretence this is not happening, but the facts are there in black and white. I've seen the lessons, they are as described above. I really am not talking about championing a good cause in an after school club - that is fine. I'm talking about people you should be able to trust teaching opinion as fact in the best case scenario or lies/misinformation in the worse case, I've given examples of both, and there is far more of that. I'm pretty worried. I don't think my school is the only place this is happening, not by a long shot.

On another note music advice is very valuable, thank you.

@Ionacat - hey thanks for music advice. I would really appreciate some advice on funding, and I will get in touch with our local hub - though they are still on-line as far as I've seen. Might be wrong. Will check.

Thanks

If teachers are regularly, and deliberately, using lessons to give disinformation and the school leadership itself isn't responding to your concerns about this, have you thought about raising it with the governors?

@mummakes if I were you, I would switch over to WLFS, it's not even about the music, it might just be more aligned with your overall views on education. Their classical approach would likely be far more in line with what you are looking for.