T-Time: Musical Opportunities and Extra-Curricular Provision

Facilitated by Music Mark’s School Manager Abi Marrison, T-Time is a shorthand for ‘Music Teachers Time to Talk Termly on Topics and Themes (with Tea if they like)!’ We host an online space for one hour every term, exclusively for classroom teachers across the UK to share peer-to-peer and have professional debate about music in education. Every session begins with a guest speaker who will provoke reflections and talking points on the given theme.   

Our attendees span the full range of key stages and experiences of music teachers, from those in the first weeks of being a music lead in school, those working with children in SEND settings, those with over 10 years of experience and more. The beauty of T-Time is that we all have something to offer and something we can take away.  

Reflections on ‘Musical Opportunities and Extra-Curricular Provision’ 

Teachers make extra-curricular music a reality   

For this term’s T-Time, we wanted to explore the abundance of musical opportunities that happen outside of the scheduled lesson timetable, such as lunchtime or after-school clubs, choirs and bands, and how these would not be possible without the music teacher engineering all of the moving parts. Regardless of who runs the provision, whether it is an older student, teacher, teaching assistant or an external organisation that is bought in, the communication has to be made with parents, the young people need to be made aware of the opportunities and encouraged to take part, and where there is additional finance required from families this needs to be coordinated and made as inclusive as possible.

We asked our T-Time teachers about their successes and challenges. These not only resonated with extra-curricular music but also with the challenges and successes of being a music teacher.  

Do we need an orchestra in every school?  

We invited as our guest speaker Fiona Harvey from the Association of British Orchestras to have a conversation with Abi about their current campaign, #AnOrchestraInEverySchool.  

Fiona encouraged us to reflect on our definitions of what an orchestra is and what it should look like in a school. This reframing of what an orchestra could look like in your setting opened up the possibilities and made the campaign feel more achievable for every school. One teacher told us about a percussion orchestra that they ran with key stage 1 children (ages 5 – 7), and another had a small group of children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) playing ‘an eclectic range of instruments’. However, the overriding experience was that teachers were relying on external agencies, such as their local music service, to deliver music ‘clubs’ after school, often transferring the cost to parents. 

Considering the principles behind the #AnOrchestraInEverySchool campaign, our T-Time attendees found themselves in agreement about what they wanted school children to be enabled to do: 

• Participate: sing, play an instrument, join in with actions, even conduct! 
• Experience: watch and or listen to a live musician or orchestra. 
• Rehearse and Perform: have an intended audience to present your refined vocal or instrumental piece to. 

Despite agreeing to these aims, teachers shared that they still had concerns over finding the time, money, resources and expertise to make these a reality.  

Take-aways  

If not the specialist, be the activist for music  

One of our attendees has a vibrant musical offer for children, but by their own admission, is a non-musician and not a confident singer. This teacher demonstrated that having the passion to make opportunities available and build networks is the first step.  

You can’t do it all 

With work-life balance and teacher wellbeing crucial to maintaining our workforce of teachers delivering music in classrooms, we heard that the support from local music services is invaluable. Attendees also spoke of organisations that have supported them, including Sing Up resources for a range of songs (repertoire) and the Royal Ballet and Opera teacher training to learn vocal games (that they have used in assemblies).  

One attendee shared that they have a music group delivered at their school by local A-level students working towards achieving a Duke of Edinburgh award. Another attendee had sought out a community choir that would come and perform in the school and lead singing with small groups. Find others who can help you: of course, you can do it all yourself, many do, but don’t feel isolated; there are so many organisations and people in your community who can work with you and support you. 

Value vs time and cost 

Time and money come up frequently at T-Time: our takeaway from this term is that although we want options of musical opportunities that are affordable to the school (free where possible!), this should not come at the expense of quality. We discussed various fundraising methods, such as approaching local businesses, but also reminded one another to demonstrate the impact of musical inspiration on young people to school leaders and governors who manage budgets.  

Thank you to our teachers who are so passionate about supporting the music IN their school – they came AFTER SCHOOL to network and talk about supporting music OUTSIDE of school!  

2026 T-Time sessions – Book your place! 

Thursday 5th February – We will be joined by speakers from OCR, ABRSM, PEARSON and DRET to explore their views on what assessment of musical learning should look like in schools.  

Monday 1st June – We will end this T-Time academic year discussing “When is singing ‘just singing’ and when is singing learning”. If you are interested in being our guest speaker please email info@musicmark.org.uk.