Different types of music touches people in different ways. I believe that music hubs should acknowledge and celebrate the musical interests of all the young people across the borough. As Head of Music Service, as you would expect, the most exciting part of the job is hearing the music made by the students and how they choose to use music to express themselves.

This term, the Sutton Music Hub has created a very exciting partnership with Future DJs (www.futuredjs.org). Future DJs support the national curriculum for music and GCSE Music syllabuses by delivering peripatetic DJ’ing lessons in schools. Innovative in their approach, they have opened the door for young DJs to access music lessons and put them on a level playing field with their peers who play more traditional instruments. 

Schools across the London Borough of Sutton are starting to book up their free Future DJs roadshow event, where students can find out about what is on offer and see expert DJs demonstrate their skills. The first roadshow in Sutton was at Oaks Park High School on Tuesday 13th September, and the response has been amazing with pupils bombarding the head of music to book DJ-ing lessons.

This is how to create a buzz about music. The Future DJs roadshow went down a storm here at Oaks Park High. Students can’t wait to get involved. Parents are excited that their child can learn this within the school and for it to be part of their GCSE. This is going to prove very popular and can only bring positive participation to the Music Department. Thank you to SMS for introducing this company to us. Exciting times ahead!Anita Horle, Subject Leader for Music

Future DJs realise that for DJ-ing and decks to become a permanent fixture within music departments, you must overcome the issues concerning resourcing and staff skills. Therefore, Future DJs will supply any school that signs up to lessons with a free pair of decks (Pioneer XDJ RR) and will upskill the Head of Music by providing them with a term of free lessons.

Being inclusive and open is an important principle for the Sutton Music Hub, and the partnership with Future DJs is a great example of how my team are striving to support the music-making aspirations of the young people across the borough. I am looking forward to hearing the outcome of these lessons towards the end of the term and getting to collect some of the pupils’ perceptions about studying GCSE Music as a DJ.

Gareth Gay

Head of Music Service