King’s Lynn’s Springwood High School is bucking national trend with increasing amount of music students

A Lynn secondary school is bucking the national trend as it has more than the average amount of students taking some form of music lessons.

More than 200 students from Springwood High School are learning a musical instrument or taking singing lessons.

Numbers show that around 11 per cent of students at Springwood are enjoying a full musical education, well above the national average of around eight per cent.

“We are thrilled at the take-up of instrumental lessons at Springwood following the demonstrations and progress of students that were on our scheme in primary schools,” said Robin Norman, director of music at both the school and the West Norfolk Academies Trust it belongs to.

He added: “We continue to buck the national trend musically and across the trust, numbers are increasing. On top of that we now have the highest number of students engaged in extra-curricular activities as well. Along with our community initiatives, we are thrilled with the development of music.”

Primary school students were involved in the Musical Instrument Teaching Initiative (MITI) run by the Trust in conjunction with the Norfolk Music Hub.

The scheme meant more than 200 children were able to learn an instrument, and a workshop brought the young musicians together to form a string orchestra and a wind band.

Many children were playing in larger groups for the first time, and performed on a professional stage in front of an audience.