1st June 2024 (launch date of MDR)

In 2021 I uploaded my first post to the @HuntSchoolMusic website.

At this point I’m supposed to say that it feels like yesterday - but it doesn’t - it feels like a really long time ago because so much has happened in the past three years.

What began as an online collection of blended-learning materials for KS3 and GCSE students, has grown into something much bigger.

2024 is my final year at Huntington and so a new adventure begins.

I’ve set the ball rolling by writing down some of the tried and tested things I’ve been doing in the classroom for years and I’ve started conversations with a lot of music teachers and cover managers who work in a range of school settings.

The following requests have come up, time and time again:

• Fully resourced teaching materials for KS3
• Assessment tools for KS3
• Decent quality ‘musical’ cover lessons that can be delivered by non-specialists
• Meaningful, musical homeworks
• Teaching and revision resources for GCSE
• Materials for teaching composition at GCSE
• A 4-part harmony course for A level
• Aural perception and ear training resources across key stages

Site content in the first phase:

A growing collection of…

• Specialist KS3 schemes of work and supplementary teaching resources, non-specialist cover.
• GCSE teaching resources, non-specialist cover, practice questions, some of which are specific to the AQA course, and some which are pertinent to all KS4 courses.
• A-level research materials, playlists, skeleton scores and essay practice questions, specific to the Pearson Edexcel course.
• Bach chorale exercises, relevant to any course. I’m not going to try to repeat or replicated the great work of Alex Aitken or Tom Pankhurt - their resources and knowledge are knock out. I’m simply writing up the scribbled exercises I’ve created for students over the years and describing how I teach with them.
• A blog that’s simply a collection of thoughts, articles, teaching approaches - stuff that might save you a bit of time or provide you with a quote or two, to support your case in those endless battles we seem to have to face in schools, explaining and justifying what we do and why we do it.
• Diagrams and illustrations that I’m gradually converting to scalable vector graphics so that they can be projected full screen, added to student workbooks or printed for displays. I’m very much of the William Morris school of thought when it comes to classroom displays.

And if this thing takes off and people like it, then I’ll respond to requests and shape future resources around what teachers tell me they need most.

How you can contribute to the early stages of the website’s development

Take a look and tell me

• How intuitive the website is to navigate
• If something’s not working
• Where I’ve made mistakes
• What you’d like more of

If there’s something specific you’d like to commission me to write for your department or organisation, then please do get in touch.

Thank Yous:

• Buffy Breakwell, Tim Burnage and Ian Wilson, aka @huntschoolmusic. You have supported me and kept me sane through thick and thin. I can’t thank you enough.

And a whole bunch of fabulous people who have provided great feedback, advice and inspiration:

(in no particular order…)

• Simon Toyne, Don Gillthorpe, Asha Bishop, Liz Gleed, Lewis Edney, Patrick Johns, Alex Aitken, Martin Suckling, Rob Carr, Robert Hollingworth and Jan Marshall.

And thank you for reading…

Liz