The Music Department is housed in purpose-built accommodation in the area adjacent to the Main Hall of the school.   There are two main teaching rooms and several practice rooms.   The department, led by Mrs Gomersall, supported by Mrs Boyd, offers BTEC Music at Key Stage 4; GCSE Music is delivered by means of after-school classes.   The department makes a huge contribution to the extra-curricular life of the school.

The department benefits from the input of eight visiting instrumental teachers, teaching a wide range of musical instruments. Pupils playing these instruments are encouraged and helped by the music staff when they have been entered for external music exams.

Extra-curricular clubs, at lunchtimes or after school, include: Keyboard Club, Choir, Brass & Woodwind Group, Strings, Djembe Drumming and Drama.

The school choir have taken part in concerts with the Local Authority at The Sage, Gateshead, at Temple Park and at the Proms in the Garden. As a solo group, the choir has sung at Shields Town Hall, St Paul’s Church in Jarrow, Jarrow Salvation Army, South Shields Museum and Jarrow Library.

The department co-ordinates its own involvement in charity work, including Operation Christmas Child (Shoeboxes); Turn on the Taps (water for Africa); and the relay for life at Monkton Stadium, where the choir sings just before the candle ceremony.

The GCSE music group, in conjunction with the Customs House, took part in the ‘Gingery Boy’ project, which involved schools from both North and South Tyneside. For this, the pupils composed their own music to put to the story of the Gingerbread Man. The pupils performed their music at both the Customs House and at The Saville Exchange in North Shields and have made a recording of their music.

All pupils are welcome to join activities. Please ask a member of the department for information.