Job Introduction

We are currently recruiting a Music Secretary at Westminster School to cover a period of maternity leave. 

The Music Secretary is responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the weekly schedule of all ensembles / groups, and the internal organisation of the department’s concerts, working with both staff and pupils to raise the profile of co-curricular music making at the School.

Excellent organisational, communication skills and the ability to work within a team are essential.

This is a time-term only role to assist with the efficient running of the Music Department in and around the Manoukian Music Centre (MMC).

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 Adrian Boult, Alexander Shelley, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Clemency Burton-Hill, Dido Armstrong, Gavin Rossdale, George Benjamin, Grace Chatto, Henry Purcell, Ian Bostridge, Julian Anderson, Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, Mika Penniman, and Roger Norrington.

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.

Role Responsibility

Line managed by the Music Department Manager, they will:

• Provide the Music Department Manager with general administrative support e.g. disseminating information to Visiting Music Teachers (VMT’s).

• Manage Manoukian Music Centre (MMC) rooming allocations and the room booking system for all Music Department rehearsals and events, in consultation with the Music Department Manager.

• Coordinate day-to-day allocation of rooms within the Music Department and oversee the foyer’s electronic screen system.

• Take and publish minutes from the weekly departmental meeting.

• Collate the department’s inventories.

• Assist with updating the departmental handbook.

• Update the Junior Colleges List.

• Prepare and disseminate the termly music diary.

• Manage the running of the Music Library.

Visiting Music Teachers (VMT’s)

• Organise VMT parents’ evenings (presently two in the Election Term).

• Manage the VMT report system, checking that all instrumental reports are completed.

Instrumental Ensembles

• Process allocation of pupils to ensembles and ensure the music database is regularly updated.

• Coordinate new pupil meetings for incoming Fifth and Sixth Formers.

• Manage and develop the ensemble section of the database - including the production of termly registers and overseeing the entry of this information onto the database.

• Oversee automated notification system, keeping a record of pupils who miss instrumental lessons / ensembles and emailing those who are absent from ensembles.

• Communicate with wider school staff to deal with problems / clashes as they occur in relation to ensembles.

• Monitor all Music Award holders, including lesson attendance / ensemble participation /solo contributions and checking they are correctly listed on the Music Online system at the start of academic year.

• Ensure the Intranet database has an accurate record of all pupils’ current achievements / standard.

Concerts / Events

• Organise all in-house concerts (e.g. Ensembles, Chamber Music, House, Soloists, Concerto, Masterclasses, Leavers’, Summer)

• Produce publicity and programmes for in-house concerts / events, as well as Sinfonia Smith Square, Royal Festival Hall, and the Barbican, with the help of the Music Coordinator.

• Organise pupil-related logistics for all large-scale concerts and events.

• Assist the Music Department Manager with the organisation of ticketing for events.

• Organise and administer Westminster entries for the Pro Corda National Chamber Music Festival and similar events.

• Attend at least seven large concerts / events per year, as agreed in advance, often in capacity of front of house (e.g. Sir Adrian Boult, St John’s Smith Square, Barbican, two x Ensembles, Leavers’, Summer)

ABRSM

• Organise ABRSM (practical and theory) examinations, collating entrant information from the VMTs and obtaining parent/guardian permission for exam entrants.

• Organise the associated aural classes.

• Steward the exams.

• Update the online system with the results.

Westminster Choral Society

• Oversee liaison with The Westminster Choral Society.

• Organise the WCS application process, issuing invitations and confirming placements.

• Manage the rehearsal schedule, register weekly attendance on the database, order choral music and organise logistics including the seating plan for WCS for the yearly concert.

This Job description is not exhaustive, and the Music Secretary may from time to time, be required to take on additional tasks that are suitable to the role.

The Ideal Candidate

Please refer 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 Under 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: June 2025

Location: Dean's Yard - Westminster School

Hours of work: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday during term time (35 weeks per year). The Music Secretary will additionally be required to attend large-scale concerts / events, involving evening hours, most likely in the capacity of front of house. In addition, the Music Secretary will be required to work an additional six days in total (usually one day before and one day after each of the three terms).

Salary: £24,377.26 (actual) based on an FTE of £31,545 per annum.

The deadline for applications in midday on Wednesday 21 May 2025. Interviews will take place, in-person, on the 4 June 2025.

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 an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 13-18 and girls aged 16-18, with a long history, a distinctive ethos, and a unique sense of place in the very heart of London. Pupils achieve exceptional examination results and entrance to some of the top universities in the world. It is a busy, passionate and purposeful place where independent and deep thinking is enjoyed, encouraged and respected by all, and where holistic excellence is nurtured and valued.

While the School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence in the country, its commitment to academic life does not make it a hothouse for passing examinations. Pupils’ success at examinations and entry to leading universities is instead a result of their enjoyment of academic enquiry, debate and search for explanation, well beyond published syllabuses. Pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged and our aim is to ensure that their enthusiasm for learning is developed further, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to them in the future. At Westminster, pupils have the freedom to lead on projects outside of the classroom and embrace a whole range of extra-curricular activities and interests. A host of pupil-led societies take place every week at the School, often with expert guest speakers, and pupils can choose to study an additional language, play an instrument or two, volunteer in local primary schools, row along the Thames, take part in plays and musicals, and much more. 

The School’s ethos resides in the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the 1560 Charter of Westminster’s Elizabethan foundation, where it is stated that: ‘the youth which is growing to manhood, as tender shoots in the wood of our state, shall be liberally instructed in good books to the greater honour of the state’. Whilst academic and cultural attainments are highly prized at Westminster, the School is fully committed also to 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 prepare young people for fulfilled private and public lives.

From September 2028, the School will welcome both girls and boys at 13+ entry, offering a Westminster education to all. By 2026, Westminster Under School will have opened its brand new pre-prep for girls and boys at 4+ and girls will have joined boys in Years 3 and 7, at the 7+ and 11+ entry points. By 2030, all year groups at Westminster School and Westminster Under School, from ages four to 18, will be fully co-educational, reflecting the School’s dedication to inclusivity and excellence. 

Westminster School