Cost of school piano lessons

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My daughter will be joining yr7 in September and she's going to continue with her piano tuition. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth carrying on with 15 minute weekly lessons taught at school or just going with a local private tutor. Cost is £10.75 pw for 15 mins. So about £42 per hour. I like the fact it's through the local council music service which was under threat a few yrs ago and hopefully in non covid times there will be more opportunities to perform. But 15 mins isn't v long and I just want to explore other options and opinions. Thanks!

15 mins is crazy for year 7. The standard is Minimum 30 mins per week at that age. I wouldn't continue with that if possible.

They're 20min lessons at our school.

£10.75 for 15 mins is quite expensive and not really long enough to make real progress. I'm a head of music so organise all the peri lessons and we charge £18 a week for 30 mins which is through the
County music service.

I think that the lesson is too short - if you can get a local teacher who is recommended for 30 mins that would be much better - many will come to you these days.

I pay £20 for 30 mins private lesson for my son and the quality of the lesson is a lot higher than the local music trust teachers he's had through school. I switched him to private after the first term of lessons at secondary, partly because I didn't want him to miss any of his academic lessons but mainly because he wasn't inspired by the teacher.

Our (amazing) primary lessons are 13.50 for 30 mins..
Our (usually highly rated, but we found appalling) secondary were 120/TERM - 30 mins in a group, but DS got put in an individual lesson, same cost, as noone at his level.
Our (pretty good) private teacher is £15 for 30 mins.

I'd say 15 mins wasnt long enough (DS was offered 1hr when we moved to private in Y7, but we declined that).

Can you purchase a double session? 15 minutes of a waste of time. Otherwise, definitely go private

Erm, talk to me when they hit Grade 8. We pay £74 per week for 2.5 hours of lessons!

By all means support the local teachers but I recommend using the Simply piano app to supplement those lessons as 15 minutes isn't enough. To really progress.

I downloaded the app over lockdown and think it is brilliant and great for a recreational player, it teaches you to read music and the fingerings. I went from a complete beginner to being able to use both hands and read the music within about a week of 15 minutes or so a day. The programme uses classical and pop songs with lots of sheet music that is available. I think they offer a free trial so might be worth trying over the holiday.

I think 30 minutes is a much better amount of time. We pay £12 for 30 mins but not through the local music trust, same teacher but lessons held at his home.

I wouldn't pay for school lessons full stop, too many wasted lessons where the kids were let out late from class,lessons changed at the last minute etc. 15 mins is ridiculously short too. £20 per half hour is the going rate where I am for private lessons, worth looking in to?

Our school lessons have been fab. She's just taken her next grade and we've arranged to pay privately for the summer to keep going. (She teaches privately as well asin school so I'm school is far easier for us in term time- we wouldn't gain seeing her outside school). However this is at a good secondary and she's always been let out for her leason. In primary we had a problem wih lunchtime lessons and fonding the teacher/teacher being late ehich wasnt good!

Arg typos.

Hmmm in one school it was about £8 for 20 mins, a different secondary school was notably more expensive though.

15 minutes is pretty pointless for a child that age. 20-30 minutes is much better.

15 pointless, and she will be missing school lesson!

School time lessons are great if you want to try an instrument.

If a kid then wants to do grades etc then private is better due to more time avail.

They also don’t like missing lessons - too awkward.

We paid £20 for 30 minutes when dd1 stopped lessons about 5 years ago so the price sounds reasonable.
However I'd agree with the others that 15 minutes is too little. Mine have always had a minimum of 30 minutes.

We pay £17 for 30 mins. When they were total beginners it was 20 mins and priced accordingly. Once they started studying for grade 1 it went up to 30 mins.

The thing with council music lessons you’re subsidising the free school meals lessons and orchestra’s etc, not mention all the bureaucracy associated with it. If you’re not participating in the orchestra’s and ensembles, which you won’t be playing piano, it doesn’t make great financial sense. You’re usually better to go private.

The hourly rate recommended by the Musicians Union for instrumental tuition is £35 per hour.

As soon as my private pupils can manage it I encourage them to have 45 minute lessons.

Most school instrumental lessons are supplied by independent music services these days, so, while you may not be subbing school meals etc, you will be paying admin fees and management wages as part of what you’re charged - the teacher will receive considerably less than you pay.

As has been said, 15 minutes is pointless for all but the youngest, very beginners (and it’s really too short for them too).
Outside of London, expect to pay between £30 and £40 per hour.

Thank you all so much for your replies ❤. I didn't get any notifications so assumed I'd not received any replies! She's been learning 15 mins a week through primary for 4 years now and has just taken grade 2. It's been slow going but now she's at grade 2 I did wonder if 15 mins was enough. I live in London so I understand prices will be higher but hadn't thought about subsidising other pupils. I like the music service so would like to support them but 15 mins is rubbish and they were useless during the first lockdown. I will investigate locally and great tip to get some lessons into the summer hols.

I dont think it is supposed to be used to support other pupils unless explicitly asked for. Ime that would be pupil premium money or local music service funding.

Congratulations on her grade 2 🥳