Performing Arts

Music has long been held in high regard at Freemen's School and our attitude to musical education is reflected in the proliferation of musical activity outside of the curriculum and throughout the School.

Everyone is given the opportunity to learn one or more of a wide range of musical instruments.  Currently about one-third of all pupils are learning an instrument and in the Junior School it is not uncommon to find three-quarters of the pupils in a class involved in instrumental lessons.

There is no lack of opportunity for pupils to get involved in a wide range of extra-curricular musical activities.  These include five choirs, two orchestras, a string ensemble and coached ensembles including string and wind chamber groups, a concert band and a jazz band.  Frequent concerts and recitals, an annual Music Competition and half-termly instrumental recitals give pupils ample opportunity for public performance.

Touring is an integral part of our Music activities.  In recent years tours have included the Rhineland, Paris & Chartres, Tuscany & Umbria and Prague.

Drama is at the very heart of the cultural life of the School both within the curriculum and in the regular extra-curricular opportunities we offer.  The best of what we have to offer can be found here

The Drama department aims to achieve the very highest standards in theatre making and consequently in the examination results the students achieve. A professional approach  to theatre craft and to integrity and truthfulness in performance is something that is encouraged from the beginning and the outcome is that students have achieved some of the best examination results and created some of the very best theatre seen in UK schools in the last few years. In addition to this, the Department is becoming a seed-bed for future actors and technicians in British Theatre, with no fewer than 12 students gaining places in professional training in the last seven years.

But everyone has to start somewhere and the Junior School talent shows and annual production provide future stars with the opportunity to shine.

The best of Music and Drama is combined in our musical theatre productions which in recent years have included Les Miserables and The Ragged Child – a 40-strong workshop production rehearsed in five days and performed to over 1,000 people in two days, all under the direction of Jeremy James Taylor, former artistic director of the National Youth Music Theatre.