Students across the College are able to take music lessons on a wide variety of instruments delivered by our team of peripatetic music teachers. Most lessons are 30 minutes long and take place once a week, mostly during curriculum time but sometimes also at break or lunchtime.
Students can start lessons at any time and further information about signing up for lessons can be found below.
Apply for Instrumental / Singing Lessons: Year 7 – 13
This is a form for parents/guardians of students who wish to start having lessons on a musical instrument or singing with our visiting (peripatetic) music teachers at St Anselm’s College.
HOW ARE LESSONS ORGANISED?
Our visiting music teachers offer 30 minutes long individual lessons, or 30 minutes long shared lessons with one other student. If you opt for shared lessons, the teacher will try to pair you up with another student of a similar ability. If this is not possible, individual lessons lasting 15 minutes each week or individual lessons lasting 30 minutes every other week will be offered instead.
Lessons take place once a week, mostly during curriculum time but also at break/lunchtime. Lesson times are rotated each week so students will miss a short amount of one of their curriculum lessons each time they attend. It should not be the same lesson for consecutive weeks. Teachers will expect students to catch up on any work missed in class.
It is very important to practise your instrument or singing every day, even for a short amount of time, so that you make progress.
Details of the lesson times will be shared with parents, staff and students via the Involve app.
PAYMENT FOR LESSONS
Lessons from September 2025 cost £19 for 30 minutes. Our team of visiting teachers are self-employed and will therefore invoice parents directly for lessons. If you wish to share lessons, the cost is divided between the pair.
Teachers normally invoice lessons at the start of every 5 or 10 weeks. Lessons MUST be paid for in advance.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
You can start lessons at any time but must give half a term’s notice in writing to the visiting teacher to cease lessons.
You must pay in advance for lessons; the teacher should not schedule lessons when payments are outstanding.
If students are going to miss their music lesson due to illness or a school trip etc., please inform the music teacher as soon as possible as a courtesy. If students are in College but forget to show up for a lesson, the teacher will call the College office to check that they are in College and efforts will be made to locate them, but they cannot make up time for missed lessons. If the teacher is absent for that week, then the lesson will be carried over to the following week. You would normally expect to have at least 30 lessons during the school year.
Parents and guardians, by filling out this form you agree to your contact details being shared with our visiting teachers, who will then contact you directly by email with further details for payment.
INSTRUMENT STORAGE
During the day, instruments can be stored in the music department storeroom, but we do ask that they are collected at the end of the day, especially guitars that are difficult to store over long periods. For piano, drum kit and double bass, students use school instruments for their lessons.
KEYBOARD OR PIANO?
Pupils learning the piano will benefit greatly from having a full sized acoustic or digital instrument (with weighted keys) to learn on at home.
The weight, sensitivity and size of the keys can vary greatly for small electric keyboards and we have a separate teacher who specialises in electric keyboard including the functions of backing beats and changes in registration.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please read the information provided on the application form below or contact Mrs D Lennon, Music Faculty Assistant dlennon@st-anselms.com
