Team work really does make the dream work.
And at Sing Education that includes everyone – from our music specialist teachers in the classroom to our recruitment manager on the phones. From our office administration team, keeping everything running smoothly to our Directors and Teaching and Training Managers who enable all our staff to excel.
We are musicians who love music. Find out the difference that can make for your school.
⭐ Wrapping up a teacher training evening.
⭐ Reviewing an Ofsted deep dive.
⭐ Hiring a new instrumental teacher.
⭐ Organising an end-of-term concert.
⭐ Onboarding a new partner school.
⭐ Updating the music curriculum pack.
A typical week at Sing Education.
Buzzing with activity, collaboration and purpose.
We take enormous pride in our small but mighty team.
Every day we accomplish great things for children, parents and headteachers we serve.
If you’ve not yet had the chance to meet us during a school music demo, at one of our cluster performances, or through our free online resources, then welcome!
We hope you enjoy this “deep dive” behind the scenes of Sing Education.
”It takes a village to raise a child.”
As these truisms enter our language, culture and common understanding, it can be hard to trace their origins.
But let’s try.
“In Kijita (Wajita) there is a proverb which says ‘Omwana ni wa bhone,’ meaning regardless of a child’s biological parent(s) its upbringing belongs to the community.
The Africanist perspective is more about community, it’s more about collaboration. It’s less about what we can do individually.’” NPR
At Sing Education, we believe in the power of collective vision, collective action and collective progress.
That’s why the proverb “It takes a village” speaks so strongly to the collaborative, life-changing work we do every day in the classroom.
To better understand who we are as an organisation and how we reach children with the transformative power of music, let’s first meet our Teaching amd Training Managers (TTMs).
Sing Education fully believe that all children deserve music education that engages and fascinates.
And through our decade of classroom experience, we know that takes a very special kind of teacher.
That’s why we source and train our team to deliver high quality music education – from helping them inspire a passion for music in the classroom to constantly honing our personal music craft.
In living out these values, Sing Education challenges not only how music is taught – we also challenge the traditional career trajectory of the educators who teach music in schools.
Meet Matyas Csiba, Teaching and Training Manager
I’m a teacher and training manager in education, and it’s a very inspiring role for me. Motivating them to be as good teachers as possible, as inspiring teachers as possible, as skilled teachers as possible. And it’s always such a nice thing to see how they grow the teachers and the children as well.
Anna Parrish, Teaching and Training Manager
My mission as a TTM is to support teachers through that teaching and their work with the children in schools. I help them to flourish as musicians and performers and help bring that out in their teaching. We look for ways that they can inspire the children with all the work they’ve done previously as musicians and with all the Sing Education training that they’ve received as well.
Not to toot our own horn – pun intended – but one of the distinctive features of working with Sing Education is knowing that you are supported by a music education team who are professional musicians in their own right.
Secondly, we take the term “specialist” quite seriously.
When you agree to meet with us or invite us back for a demo lesson, we’ll talk about one thing – and one thing only – the transformative power of great school music.
There’s also no chance you’ll be constantly pestered to “upgrade” your contract. Say goodbye to the eager but often clueless salesperson – with no classroom or school leadership experience, mind you – who’s bent on selling you a planning bundle that includes history, computer science and RE too.
Lastly, at Sing Education our music curriculum is our core offer. It’s not an “also ran” product meant to sit alongside 15-20 other subjects.
That means that all of our educational research, design expertise, classroom experience, teacher training and administration support go into developing very specific lessons, resources and pedagogy that is purpose-built for the EYFS/KS1-2 learner and bespoke to your school.
Meet Dominic Veall, Teaching and Training Manager
I like to bring my musical skills as a musical director for shows and a conductor for choirs and a pianist into the classroom. I see how this really transforms children’s experience of music.
And as a manager, I’m also using that experience with our teachers and maintaining that approach within my own classroom teaching as well.
Meet Bert Routledge, Director of One-toOne and Small Group Provision
At Sing Education we are all musicians and we all have outside interests in music. Personally, I run a choir and a band and it’s really great fun.
I also run the instrumental one-to-one side of things.
Scheduling, invoicing, communicating with parents plus our headteachers, as well as organising all the peripatetic teachers across our 80 partner schools keeps me very busy.
That said, going through new registration sign ups, it gives me great satisfaction when we are able to enrol a new child into the schedule, knowing the benefit they will receive from learning a musical instrument.
Sing Education is consistently on the lookout for talented individuals. We participate in career fairs, post on job boards, and seek referrals through our extensive networks. Our aim is to recruit top music educators for our team.
Many of our teachers are professional musicians from within our network, often joining through recommendations from current staff or university alumni. Additionally, we advertise on various recruitment websites and industry job bulletins.
Once we’ve successfully recruited a teacher, we place them with one of our partner schools. So in addition to hiring and training new music specialists, Sing Education also offer assistance to schools through our 360° wraparound consultancy services.
We look across the breadth of needs that a school may have, including issues such as timetabling, pupil safeguarding, equipment supply and onboarding.
Day-to-day support from our administrative team means that we take all the guesswork out of developing a rich and varied music programme.
Meet Sarah Jane Jones, Recruitment Administrator
We do all of the recruitment in-house.
I look for candidates that have a degree in music or something music related, plus, ideally, classroom teaching experience.
We usually start with an initial recruitment call and then an online interview and then a classroom interview.
Quite purposefully there are a number of steps to the recruitment process. That gives us a really good chance to get to know a candidate, see their kind of communication style, and really listen to their experience.
Meet Amy Duffy, Office Manager
Here in the office, to keep things running smoothly, we make sure we use all of our procedures and processes that are in place. We work together closely as a team
Ultimately, we all have a love for music, so just making sure we can, share that with everyone, making sure the teachers are happy, making sure the schools are happy, and keeping everything running smoothly.
Meet Bobby Routledge, Office Administrator
I work here as an office assistant at Sing Education. I help out all the other administrators, to do their day to day tasks.
I answer the phones, I ring the schools, I keep the relationships good. I’m always in contact with the teachers we employ, just to check up on them – to make sure they’re okay and to help with anything they need.
While Sing Education may have had its initial start in the 32 boroughs of London, we’ve grown tremendously over the subsequent 10 years since our founding.
Now we work closely with partner schools right the way across Kent – from the M25, straight through to the coast – as well as regularly fielding enquiries from Surrey, Berkshire, Essex and the other Home Counties
Sing Education has robust footprint outside of Greater London too.
We’re already contributing to music teacher training at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. And, building on that excellent base, from the start of the next school year, we’ll be bringing our unique brand of music education directly to local primaries across Birmingham and Greater Manchester.
Meet Katie Brier, Teaching and Training Manager
The new curriculum is full of lots of new, interesting challenges. Both for the teachers and the children. We’re including lots of new instruments, lots of new activities.
So my favourite thing about my role is visiting all the different schools and seeing the impact that our curriculum and our lessons are having on all the children up and down the country.
Meet Candace Brooks, Administrator
My role is predominantly looking after the Yorkshire schools, and all the administration that goes alongside that. We’ve built a small team in Yorkshire, and it’s gradually built up over the last three years. It’s really amazing to see how well it’s grown. I’ve got a really good, dedicated team of teachers up there now, which is great.
At Sing Education we have the great privilege of serving more thatn 28,000 children per week across over 60 primary school settings.
From rural, single-form entry schools to urban, 4-form entry academies Sing Education have developed curriculum, delivery and administration solutions to suit all types of learning environments.
And from classroom lessons and after school clubs, to singing assemblies and small group tuition, we are the conduit for the life-changing music education in so many young peoples’ lives.
We’ll let our headteachers and pupils tell you more…
Alison Reed, Headteacher at Dairy Meadow
Music for Children is such an important experience. All Children have the right to learn an instrument, to learn, to sing and to have the chance to perform. And so this fits so closely with things that we think are very, very important for young Children.
James, Sing Education Student
The things I like about the music lessons with Miss More is the fact that they’re very interactive.
India, Sing Education Student
I like that we have the opportunity of getting to use different instruments. I felt really proud when when Miss Moore was calling me out, and then I played music in front of the class.
Rachel Peart, Headteacher at Ainderby Steeple
The children have absolutely excelled. It’s evident that through observing as a head teacher, as a teacher, as a music expert myself.
Observing Miss Moore engaged in the teaching of music, the Children are highly engaged. They’re enthusiastic, they work collaboratively collaboratively as a group, and their learning is showcased.
Founded in 2014 and serving more than 28,000 children each week, Sing Education is a first class provider of primary school music education. Focusing on high-quality, singing-led tuition, we deliver a complete solution for schools which includes teacher recruitment, training and management, bespoke curricular resources and educational consultancy services.
Through music lessons, singing assemblies, choirs, after school clubs and instrumental tuition, Sing Education works with students from Nursery right through to Year 6. Our core philosophy is that “Every Child Has A Voice,” and, as educators active in the classroom, our directors and teachers know firsthand how much young learners benefit from exciting, rewarding music education.
#SingEducation #EveryChildHasaVoice #primaryschool #music #education
It Takes A Village To Determine The Origins Of An African Proverb, NPR, NPR
