Job Introduction

Music at Westminster

Music plays an integral part of life at Westminster, where pupils are encouraged to learn and participate as fully as possible in a weekly routine of rehearsals, recitals and concerts. Many internationally renowned musicians have been educated at the school including Henry Purcell, Sir Adrian Boult, Sir Roger Norrington, Ian Bostridge, George Benjamin, Julian Anderson, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gavin Rossdale, Mika, Dido and members of the band Clean Bandit.

Westminster musicians regularly attend the junior departments at the Royal Academy, Royal College and Guildhall, and a good number are members of the National Youth Orchestra, National Children’s Orchestra, National Youth Jazz Orchestra and National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.

Up to twelve Music Scholarships are awarded each year. Academic music standards are extremely high, with a good proportion of music students going on to read music at University or Music College.

Facilities

The Manoukian Music Centre, an excellent facility opened in 2005, is fully equipped with Rehearsal/Performing Hall, Recording Studio, classrooms, practice rooms, rehearsal rooms and instrument storage to the highest standards. The Manoukian Centre and the School Hall both house Steinway concert grand pianos and, in addition, there is a Goble harpsichord. Concerts take place annually in St John’s Smith Square, Westminster Abbey and the Barbican.

The location of the school allows unrivalled opportunities to attend musical performances on the South Bank & West End.

Instrumental Music

There has been a long tradition of excellence in instrumental music at Westminster. Around 30 Instrumental ensembles rehearse each week, including a symphony orchestra, concert band, string groups, brass quintet, brass consort and numerous wind and percussion ensembles and jazz ensembles. There is an extensive chamber music programme with regular success in national chamber music festivals and competitions.

Staff

A team of 40 visiting teachers provides instrumental and vocal tuition.

Role Responsibility

The School seeks a conducting teacher to teach approximately 3 hours per week on a self-employed basis. We are seeking an outstanding teacher, conductor, and communicator with the ability to inspire the exceptionally talented and the less advanced in equal measure. Ideally, the successful applicant will have a proven track record of teaching at other establishments.

Specific working hours will vary from term to term depending upon pupil numbers.

Visiting Music Teachers are self-employed and parents are invoiced directly at a recommended rate of approximately £52 per hour.

The Ideal Candidate

Please refer to the below (attached) person specification.

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.

Safeguarding and Child Protection

Westminster School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Package Description

Required for: September 2024

Location: Dean's Yard - Westminster School

Contract: self-employed. Approximately 3 hours per week.

Salary: Visiting Music Teachers are self-employed and parents are invoiced directly at a recommended rate of approximately £52 per hour.

The deadline for applications is 09:00, Friday 14th June 2024. Interviews will take place on Thursday 20th June.

About the School

Working at Westminster

Westminster School is a busy, purposeful and vibrant place to be and an excellent workplace. The community is made up of 750 pupils, 120 teaching staff and 108 support staff.

Westminster School is friendly and welcoming, and all newcomers quickly become part of the rhythm of life here.

There is a real sense of community here as, being a boarding school many members of staff and pupils live on site and the School’s premises are very much treated as a home away from home. School life starts before breakfast and continues way beyond the working day; as a result, there is always a lively atmosphere in and around School and always someone to share a tea and biscuit with in the Common Room. Support staff as much as teaching staff are encouraged to embrace the School’s day-to-day activities, whether that be attending an evening concert or a morning service in the Abbey.

At Westminster we will always select the best candidate for every position. We do know, however, that we can only truly choose the best person on every occasion if a broad and diverse pool of candidates see the job advertised and are encouraged to apply.

As such, we continue to work on how our job roles are encountered, and particularly welcome applications from groups who have traditionally been underrepresented here.

Westminster School is for everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. We hope you are encouraged to apply.

The School

Westminster School is a selective day and boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 and girls aged 16 to 18. There are approximately 360 boys in the Lower School (Years 9 to 11) and 400 boys and girls in the Upper School (Years 12 and 13). One quarter of the pupils board, and the School is structured and run as a boarding school, with an extended day and week and a strong House-based system of pastoral welfare, for boarding and day pupils alike.

Westminster is an ancient school, whose origins can be traced to a charity school established by the Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey. Its continuous existence is certain from the early 14th century. Henry VIII personally ensured the School’s survival by statute and Elizabeth I, who confirmed royal patronage in 1560, is celebrated as the School’s foundress. Westminster is rare amongst long-established schools in remaining on its original site in the centre of London. Its proximity to Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and the use of the Abbey for its chapel, together with the stimulating diversity of the South Bank and West End, account in part for its special atmosphere and outlook.

The School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence both in this country and internationally. Central to its academic ethos is the dialogue between teachers and their pupils, whether in the classroom or in tutorials, inspiring enjoyment of intellectual enquiry, debate and search for explanation and the development of skills of rational, independent thought well beyond any standard examination syllabus. The desired environment is happy, busy and purposeful; the pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged, with plenty of opportunities to develop initiatives and to articulate and defend their views, in line with the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the School’s Charter. That tradition is fully committed also to the nurture of each pupil’s spiritual, moral, emotional and physical development and wellbeing – with a particular emphasis on drawing out individual talent wherever it lies - and to the preparation of young people for fulfilled private and public lives beyond School.

Westminster School