RBC Primary School of Music

The RBC St Benedict’s Primary School in Small Heath, Birmingham, is our first RBC Primary School of Music. The school will be working closely with RBC over the next two years and beyond to provide a range of high-quality music opportunities for staff and pupils both within St Benedict’s and at RBC. The aim of the programme is to create a sustainable model for primary music education by training classroom teachers to use music in their classrooms, through team teaching and an extensive programme of teacher training sessions across the academic year.

What are the aims of the project?

Foster a whole school community love of music
Use a shared musical language in a multilingual school
Put music at the heart of the community
Create an outstanding music curriculum
Develop a sustainable and replicable model for primary music education
Deliver an effective learning partnership between primary and higher education

The RBC Primary School of Music programme contains the following elements:

Training	Training sessions for staff. School and RBC team teaching.
Curriculum	Curriculum development. Cross-curricular links e.g. oracy and science. Musical literacy.
Co-curriculum - music outside the classroom	Professional performances in school and at RBC. Pupils performing alongside professional musicians. Playground songs and games. Whole-school singing sessions.

The programme began with a surprise flash mob event at the school, with RBC LEAP Ensemble surprising students and staff with pop up performances in the classrooms, midway through their other curriculum lessons. This culminated in the school’s first orchestral concert, with St Benedict’s enjoying an exciting and varied programme of music, which for most of the children and staff was their first orchestral experience. Since launching, the school is now enjoying a variety of opportunities including weekly after school clubs, whole school singing lessons and Kodály-inspired musicianship classes. Children and parents have been treated to performances in school by eminent Indian classical musicians through our RBC and BCU Partnership with the Indian Cultural Commission.

RBC St Benedict’s School of Music is generously supported by an anonymous donor and enables RBC to create a sustainable and replicable model for primary music education, with the aim of sharing this model to more schools across the country. This partnership also gives RBC students a safe environment to develop their pedagogy skills, with the support of experienced mentors and RBC staff.

More information

RBC Primary School of Music

In 2024, St Benedict’s Primary School in Small Heath, Birmingham, became our first RBC Primary School of Music. The school will be working closely with RBC over the next two years to provide a range of high-quality music opportunities for staff and pupils both within St Benedict’s and at RBC.

Find out more

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