Music and Performing Arts

From Reception onwards, pupils have weekly lessons with the Head of Music and, from Prep 2 they have access to individual music lessons with specialist teachers. Performing Arts is taught as part of the curriculum for Year 2 and above and includes the development of stage and performance skills, improvisation, vocal technique, movement, mime and dance.

Music and Drama are part of the curriculum for Years 7, 8 and 9. Lessons are designed to be an interesting and fun introduction to the performing arts. In Drama lessons pupils learn about different styles of theatre from Classical Greek, Shakespeare and Melodrama to the more modern Naturalism, Theatre in Education and Physical Theatre.

GCSE Drama offers an exciting, inspiring and practical course. Pupils have the opportunity to participate in their own and others' compositions and attend live theatre performances. GCSE Music assesses the three core skills of performing, composing and appraising and provides the opportunity for pupils to express themselves.

At A Level the school offers courses in Music and Drama and Theatre. Both support the academic exploration of the subject as well as a range of performance opportunities.

Individual Music and Drama Lessons

An exceptional team of visiting musicians give instrumental tuition in voice, piano and organ, woodwind, strings, brass and percussion. Lessons are available from Year 2 and are taught in the Music School which provides an ensemble room, two music classrooms, instrumental teaching rooms, GCSE and A Level Music work space and a recording studio.

The Department has an outstanding record in the Associated Board and Trinity College examinations up to Diploma level. Pupils go on to study at conservatoires such as the Royal College of Music, the Sorbonne and the Guildhall, as well as the top university music departments such as Kings College, London and Royal Holloway.

LAMDA Speech and Drama classes are also popular, with Prep and Senior pupils joining individual or group lessons. Pupils are prepared for examinations in Grades 1 to 8. 

Bands, Ensembles and Orchestras

Leweston offers many high-profile performance opportunities, inside and outside of school. There are a number of instrumental ensembles including string ensembles, Baroque Group, Flute Group, Recorder Consort, Worship Band and Jazz Band. All perform regularly.

Prep and Senior pupils learning orchestral instruments join together in our training orchestra to develop their reading skills and technique, and Leweston recently launched its own Community Orchestra. This invites pupils, parents, alumni and friends of the school to play together on a weekly basis.

Choral Music

Leweston has a particular reputation for sacred choral music. The Prep’s Chapel Choir, drawn from Prep 5 and 6, sings at the weekly Mass and prepares for special performances throughout the year.

All pupils in Years 7 and 8 sing in the award-winning junior choir, Cantemus. Pupils in Year 9 and above can audition for a place in the prestigious Schola Cantorum. Schola sings at the school’s weekly Mass and at festivals, concerts, weddings and other services nationally and abroad. In addition, there are a number of other choirs in the School, including the Staff and Sixth-Form Choir and the ‘Show Choir’.

The school also hosts a Choral Society which brings together students, staff, parents and members of the local community. The Society rehearses weekly and performs a major choral work with professional orchestra and soloists on a bi-annual basis, with a smaller-scale concert in March of the interim year. 

Drama and Musical Theatre

Opportunities to star on stage start in the Prep and continue through the school. All Pre-Prep pupils have a part in the annual Nativity and Prep pupils perform in each Summer Term production.

The school runs several productions throughout the year, including the annual whole school play or musical, an annual sixth form drama project linked to A Level Theatre Studies and a junior play. There are also numerous opportunities to enjoy and participate in drama from House plays to major productions and assemblies.

The productions are popular with pupils and are of incalculable educational value. They offer cross-curricular opportunities including technical theatre, costume and stage design, as well as the obvious social benefits.