About the job

 We are seeking to appoint a Music Administrator to assist with the successful running of all aspects of the busy department at WLFS. This is an important and highly valued role in a thriving department which requires excellent organisational skills to support its smooth running. The department includes 20 VMTs (Visiting Music Teachers), teaching around 300 instrumental lessons per week, and the ideal candidate will oversee all aspects of their delivery. They will also have a high profile in the organisation of events, and there will be a strong pupil-facing element to the role.

 We particularly welcome applications from active musicians, with opportunities for the successful candidate to be highly involved in the practical life of the department, assisting with ensembles, concerts and trips. The Music Administrator reports to the Director of Music, George de Voil.

 The Music Department

 The WLFS has been a music specialist school since its foundation, and the department is well resourced, with four full-time music teachers, supported by a full-time assistant and twenty visiting teachers. Twelve pupils each year enter the school as music scholars. At Key Stage 3, pupils have two hours a week of classroom music teaching, and develop a thorough theoretical and practical grasp of traditional music notation. Around half participate in either an after-school music ensemble or receive instrumental lessons, with almost 300 individual lessons taking place each week, and a scheme to encourage the study of ‘rare’ orchestral instruments.

 Our proportion of pupils taking Music GCSE (OCR) in Years 10 and 11 is among the highest for any secondary school in the country. At A-level we offer both Music (Eduqas) and Music Technology (Edexcel), and former pupils often study at the country’s most prestigious universities, with alumni winning choral scholarships and reading Music, recently at Merton and New Colleges in Oxford. The department runs an orchestra, a string group, a wind band, and a number of choirs, including a staff & parent choral society. There is a busy programme of concerts, competitions, foreign and UK tours, cathedral visits, and an ambitious history of school musicals (with recent examples including The Sound of Music and Les Miserables). The programme for 2026 includes a tour to France, singing across Normandy and in La Madeleine, Paris, a performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana, and a production of Guys and Dolls, as well as concert trips to the Proms and Cadogan Hall. As such, music is central to the life of the school. We believe that music makes our pupils’ lives, and our school community, richer in spirit. In this the department is fully supported by the senior leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

• Administrative oversight of all aspect of instrumental/vocal lessons including processing new applications for lessons, promoting the ‘rare instruments’ scheme, managing the timetabling and rooming process, liaising with other departments in the school to resolve timetabling clash issues, and invoicing parents.

• Keeping the department spaces (including the practice rooms) in good order.

• Overseeing the school’s systems for administering music lessons, and liaising with school IT team when issues occur. Developing a good relationship across school departments is essential.

• Liaising with the HR department regarding the recruitment and induction of new VMTs and ensuring VMTs are up to date with safeguarding training.

• Keeping an accurate inventory of the school’s musical instrument collection, co-ordinating loans to pupils, and organising servicing, repairs and tuning as required.

• Administration and stewarding of all practical music examinations, including entries, timetables, results and billing. Providing statistics on entries and results.

• Organising the annual music parents' evening, and collating and proofreading the annual written reports by VMTs.

• Monitoring the music scholar programme, by co-ordinating the annual music aptitude tests, and keeping records of music scholars’ activities and achievements.

• Assisting with the organisation, promotion and smooth running of music department events, including external concerts, trips and musical theatre productions, willing to supervise and direct pupils as appropriate and to liaise with parents and audiences.

• Maintaining up-to-dates records of ensemble membership and attendance.

• Taking minutes and contributing to the agenda of music department meetings.

• Keeping the department noticeboards and signage up to date with relevant information, and developing its online presence through promotional material.

• Liaising closely with the finance team about purchases and budgetary matters.

• Assisting with delivering music theory classes and an interest in providing some support to the academic and co-curricular programme (e.g. assisting with the recording of performing coursework, supporting composition coursework clinics, coaching pupils in an individual or ensemble context) would be a distinct advantage.

 Person Specification

• Methodical and well-organised with excellent attention to detail; flexible and able to work on own initiative

• Good verbal and written communication skills 

• Able to establish a good rapport with pupils, parents and staff alike, and to work effectively as part of a team; excellent problem-solving skills and a ‘can do’ attitude

• Excellent IT skills – fully conversant with MS Office (especially Excel, Word, Teams, SharePoint and Outlook) and an excellent ability to learn bespoke systems such as Arbor. Familiarity with notation/sequencing software would be an advantage

• The post would particularly suit an applicant with a musical and/or educational background and understanding, e.g. choral singers/instrumentalists.

• Experience of having worked in a busy administrative capacity (desirable)