Our music programme is nationally renowned. You can read all about it, find out about our remarkable range of groups and ensembles, and watch dazzling performances in our dedicated music brochure, OPUS – packed with videos and information!

We are extremely proud of the instrumental and vocal lessons we offer at The Abbey. We employ an exceptional team of dedicated and experienced peripatetic teachers with a quite remarkable breadth of expertise in the fields of classical music, musical theatre, jazz, contemporary, rock & pop, composition, songwriting and historical performance.

As performers, their work has included engagements with the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras (to name a few), festivals including the BBC Proms, GRAMMY-winning recording projects and playing on top West End musicals such as Les Misérables, The Devil Wears Prada and My Neighbour Totoro.

Also on our staff are contemporary performers and singer/songwriters with performing experience at venues such as the O2 and Wembley arenas, writing and recording as solo artists as well as supporting groups such as Wet Wet Wet and Joel Culpepper. Musical Theatre is a thriving part of our vocal department, with our teachers’ former students including finalists and winners of major competitions such as the UK Musical Theatre Young Singer of the Year.

We count published composers/arrangers and a producer as part of our team, as well as a current ABRSM examiner & theory/aural specialist, offering classes to students to help them with these essential skills.

We are thrilled to also offer Abbey students masterclasses with world-class performances. Past visitors have included Alexandra Wood (leader, Aurora Orchestra & City of London Sinfonia), Harriet Kirk (celebrated mezzo-soprano) and Philippa Davies (Nash ensemble, international soloist).

Students interested in trying out a new instrument, or voice lessons, have access to our unique Taster Lessons programme, a scheme whereby a student can sign up, either individually or with a friend, to learn a new instrument (or start voice lessons) for a term with one of our fantastic peripatetic teachers. There’s no obligation to continue beyond that term, though many of our students do!

We believe all this offers students an unparalleled range of opportunities for growth and inspiration, both as musicians and individuals. Music-making is truly part of the fabric of daily life at The Abbey and we know the benefits are felt by students and staff alike.

“Theatre is a mirror. A sharp reflection of society.”

Yasmina Reza, playwright and actor

Students are provided with a multitude of productions in which to participate. Upper III (Year 7) perform in their own Christmas Pantomime (directed by Sixth Form students) and Upper III, Lower IV (Year 8) and Upper IV (Year 9) students participate in a biennial Lower School Play.

Our centerpiece production, for students from Upper IV (Year 9) to Upper VI (Year 13), is the biennial Upper School Play. We enjoy an outstanding relationship with our local theatre, South Street Arts Centre, where we stage many of our productions, and this professional theatre environment, supported by a lighting designer, results in productions of exceptional range and quality. Recent productions have included ‘We Are The Searchers,’ ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’, ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’, ‘Arabian Nights’, ‘The Canterbury Tales’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘As You Like It’, ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’, ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘101 Dalmatians’, and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’

The Drama department also collaborates closely with the Music Department on the School Musical, including ‘Hairspray’ and ‘We Will Rock You’, which play to packed houses and give students the chance to experience a professional standard of production – as well as being involved in directing, choreography, the band, stage management, lighting and sound as well as performance.

A weekly club is offered to Upper III and Lower IV, where students explore devising, improvisation, characterisation, storytelling and text.

The Abbey is also fortunate to have a Theatre Artist in Residence. Cassie Friend, is an actor, director and deviser, and a founding member of the acclaimed RedCape Theatre Company. Cassie works alongside the drama team to deliver our rich and diverse extra-curricular programme.

We are a welcoming and inclusive department. Drama is not just for those who enjoy performing on stage, and students have recently worked as sound designers, lighting operatives, directors and assistant directors, and costume and make-up assistants on a number of productions.

One of the joys of Senior School are the student works of art that decorate reception and are found all around our building. Ambitious, complex, striking pieces are everywhere, and testament to the thriving art scene at school.

At the heart of opportunity in art are the Open Studios that the team work so hard to provide to artists of all ages and levels. Across lunchtime and other breaks young people can be found making almost anything. There are plenty of trips and gallery visits and the Art Scholarship programme is impressive: the annual Art Tea, with students coming together to learn from each other, make things and most of all have fun, is a highlight of the school calendar.

Another high point is the annual House Art celebration. In recent years this has featured wearable art of all types. Students come to school parading the most eclectic items, and th day concludes with external judges awarding prizes in a high-tempo art show.

Every year Sixth Form students enter Articulation, a national award for presentations on the work and impact of chosen artists. The range of talks is so impressive and students often go on to regional success and national involvement.

The Senior School is also thrilled to host two Artists in Residence. They run workshops and clubs with students, exposing them to so many different styles and types of work and ensuring the path forward into lifelong artistic work is clear.

Much of the creative activity in school is given shape and focus by our scholarship programmes in Art, Drama, Music and Sport. There are scholars in every year group and they collaborate together and lead activity – while ensuring opportunity is available to all. See our scholarship page for more.

Clubs form part of every week for every student. These might be long-running clubs to which students commit for years, or new interests they try with friends – or to make new ones! There are dozens and dozens of clubs and the programme changes all the time as students found new clubs with staff support. Here’s a representative sample.