Cathedrals join the National Schools Singing Programme

“The British choral tradition is unique in championing young people to make music at the highest level — it respects young people as professionals — but there is a danger that it is only accessed by those who already know about it.

“Our shared aim is to enable every child in the country to participate in this remarkable living tradition.” Simon Toyne, music director for the Hamish Ogston Foundation.

Six of our cathedrals are to be part of the National Schools Singing Programme designed to break down barriers about the choral tradition by widening opportunities for children in state schools to engage with music.

Derby, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and York have all been awarded a grant to be part of the programme which was founded by the Hamish Ogston Foundation in 2021 in a bid to reach evermore children in state schools across the country.

The six cathedrals have been chosen for their diversity and their capacity to reach some of the most music-deprived areas of the country.

Their inclusion in the programme means that the NSSP is expected to reach around 20,000 children in more than 200 state schools every week.

In Derby, the grant will help pay for a newly-appointed full-time Choral Director for Schools, who will work across Derby and Derbyshire, particularly in areas of social deprivation, to provide a high-quality musical education to children by introducing them to choral singing in their school setting.

It is anticipated that over 900 children from across Derby and Derbyshire will be involved with the programme.

Key to the programme is that the singing sessions are not an extra-curricular activity, they take place in school hours so all pupils have equal access and opportunity, and the programme meets the requirements of the new model music curriculum in schools: the National Plan for Music Education

The NSSP was launched in 2021 with £4 million of funding from the Foundation, which supports heritage, health, and music initiatives. It employs choral directors to deliver whole-class singing sessions in state schools every week and was first rolled out in the Roman Catholic dioceses of Leeds, Nottingham, and Liverpool.

Ben Saunders, a director of music in the Diocese of Leeds and consultant to the NSSP, said:

“Schools have to have music, and with churches’ expertise in choral music, we thought, why not work with the very best?

“Cathedrals historically have this commitment to music, developing it and enhancing the base in the state schools. They have always been centres of education, patrons of the arts, and, particularly from a Christian point of view, champions of the poorest and most disenfranchised.”

Seed funding takes away the financial risk for the recipients, enabling the programme to keep going and to expand. The hope and expectation is that singing during school hours will lead to the formation of after-school choirs, or to children joining existing choirs.

Simon Toyne, music director for the Hamish Ogston Foundation, and former president of the Music Teachers Association, said:

“In every school in the country, you will find children with great voices. The importance of NSSP is enabling those voices to be nurtured, trained, and developed by expert choral directors, empowering them to sing in well-run school choirs, and connecting them to their local cathedral choir.

“The British choral tradition is unique in championing young people to make music at the highest level — it respects young people as professionals — but there is a danger that it is only accessed by those who already know about it. Our shared aim is to enable every child in the country to participate in this remarkable living tradition.”

The Dean of Derby, the Very Revd Peter Robinson, said:

“We are delighted to have been successful with our application to be one of six pilot Anglican cathedrals as part of their National Schools Singing Programme.

“This gives us the means to expand our music-in-schools initiative, which is a key part of our strategy and direction for learning and partnerships. We are immensely grateful to the Hamish Ogston Foundation for funding this programme.”

What is Choral Evensong? Find out here.

Photo – NSSP