Assistant Director of Music

The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School is seeking to appoint for September 2026 a highly qualified, inspirational Assistant Director of Music. This is an opportunity to join one of the most successful and high profile school music departments in the country. The successful candidate will have experience of teaching and will be a confident, performing musician, able to bring their own particular skills to the Department. They will have a real passion for their subject and will be willing to contribute extensively to the musical life of the School.

The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School

The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School is a highly successful and oversubscribed Roman Catholic comprehensive school for boys, with a pan-London intake and mixed Sixth Form. It was graded outstanding in all aspects in the most recent Ofsted Report (November 2021) and has a long track-record of high performance in public examinations. Conveniently located halfway between Shepherd’s Bush and Holland Park tube stations, the Vaughan is situated within the leafy surroundings of London’s Holland Park area and is within easy walking distance of Westfield shopping centre and nearby Notting Hill. Both stations are served by the Central Line, with Shepherd’s Bush Overground also running trains to Clapham Junction every ten minutes.

The Music Department

The Music Department at the Vaughan consists of three music teachers and around thirty-five peripatetic instrumental and vocal teachers. All pupils at Key Stage Three (Years 7-8) receive one hour of classroom music tuition a week. Boys learn to play, sing, compose and understand a wide variety of musical styles. Class sizes at Key Stage Three average 18 pupils. Classrooms are fully equipped with keyboards and other necessary resources. Extensive use is made of music computers, running Sibelius and Logic software. In the Third Form (Year 9), pupils have the option of choosing Music for GCSE (Eduqas) and continue in the Sixth Form studying Music A Level (Eduqas). Recent years have seen GCSE cohorts between 25-30 pupils whilst at A Level the classes average around 14 per year. There were 17 A Level students in last year’s Upper Sixth. Results at GCSE and in the Sixth Form are excellent. The School has a long and impressive tradition of pupils winning Organ and Choral Awards at Oxbridge and many students go on to study Music at both Oxbridge and other universities, including in recent years to the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Lessons take place in the New Music Rooms, opened in 2005. Eighteen specialist rooms, including a Song School, a Music Technology Suite, and a Recording Studio provide the pupils with a wonderful environment in which to study. The Department is very generously resourced. Since 1995 the Vaughan has operated a Specialist Music Course. Each year, up to twelve First Form pupils (10%) are selected on the basis of musical aptitude. These pupils receive free instrumental tuition on their principal study and the option of learning a second instrument in addition.

Choral Music

The Vaughan has a long tradition of choral excellence. Pride of place lies with the Schola Cantorum, the School’s liturgical choir, whose principal duty is the provision of music for the School’s weekly mass. Beyond the School, the choir enjoys a busy liturgical and concert life, singing frequently at London’s most prestigious churches and cathedrals. The choir tours annually, with recent destinations including Australia, Japan, South Africa, Norway Poland, Venice, Rome, Paris, Barcelona and Vienna. The Schola has recorded several CDs – Great is the Lord, released in April 2021, reached No 6 in the Official Classical Music Charts.

In January 2022 the Schola became the first choir from a state school to lead an edition of the BBC’s long running programme Choral Evensong. Boys from the Schola frequently perform with professional groups, singing with the Chorus of the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Opera Holland Park. Performances have been given alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and at the BBC Proms. The boys are in great demand for commercial work and frequently sing on film soundtracks: recently they have worked with James Horner, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams amongst others and were heard on the 2013 Academy Award winning score for the film Life of Pi. Other films to feature their voices include Rocketman, The Batman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dark Shadows and Paddington.

The School Choir, often 150 pupils strong, performs large choral works at the School’s major concerts. Recent repertoire has included Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Verdi’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Requiem. The Choir has sung with international soloists including Sir Thomas Allen, Michael Chance, Iestyn Davies, Sarah Fox and John Mark Ainsley and has toured to Germany, the USA, Austria and the Czech Republic. Our mixed voice choir, the Sixth Form Choir, enjoys a busy concert and liturgical life, recently performing works such at the Rutter and Fauré Requiems with orchestra.

Instrumental Music

More than four hundred instrumental lessons are given each week at the Vaughan and the pupils participate in every conceivable instrumental ensemble. A Junior String Ensemble, Junior Brass Ensemble and Second Orchestra cater for the younger boys whilst Junior and Senior Concert Bands offers players the opportunity to discover the symphonic band repertoire. The First Orchestra has recently performed symphonies by Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Schubert, Borodin, Sibelius and Beethoven. The School is an orchestral partner of Sinfonia Smith Square and gives an annual concert with the Vaughan’s instrumentalists sat alongside their professional counterparts. We also enjoy a close relationship with the English Chamber Orchestra.

The School’s Big Band has performed at numerous venues in and around London, including Ronnie Scott’s, the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Seven times finalists in the National Festival of Music for Youth, the Band has toured in Hong Kong, France, Spain, Holland and the USA. Jazz musicians the Band has worked with include Jason Yarde, Wayne Escoffery and Arturo Sandoval. Chamber music, from string quartets to brass ensembles, can be heard every day.

Concerts

The School holds several major concerts each year plus numerous smaller evening recitals. The feast day of St Cecilia is celebrated with a large scale concert and the Schola gives an annual performance of Handel’s Messiah each December. An orchestral concert is held in the Spring and the approach to Holy Week is marked with a further choral orchestral evening. Concerts are frequently held at prestigious London venues such as Cadogan Hall and St. John’s, Smith Square. For the School’s Centenary in 2014 the Department staged an event at the Royal Albert Hall.

The Schola gives regular London performances and also travels widely in the UK, singing recently at Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, York Minster, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, King’s College and St John’s College, Cambridge, New College, Oxford and Snape Maltings.

The Early Evening Recital Series, informal concerts held throughout the year, allow soloists and chamber groups to perform. A Summer Concert brings all these activities together in a less formal atmosphere. In addition, there is the School Carol Service, an Evening with the Big Band, rock and pop events plus an annual musical (recent productions have included Sweeney Todd, Beauty and the Beast, Crazy For You, Into the Woods, Les Misérables, Anything Goes, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, and Oliver!).

Further information about the musical life of the School can be seen on the School’s website (https://www.cvms.co.uk/) and the website of the Schola Cantorum (https://www.scholacantorum.co.uk/).

The Role of Assistant Director of Music

This is a full-time role that would suit someone with several years of experience in teaching looking to take on further responsibilities and develop their skills as a teacher and musician. Applications from teachers who are more experienced still, but who would be excited by the unique opportunities and challenges that the Vaughan’s Music Department offers, would also be welcome. The successful candidate will teach music across Key Stages 3, 4 & 5 as well as contributing to the extra-curricular activities of this immensely busy Department.

We are looking for someone who:

• Has a good degree in Music
• Has experience of teaching at Key Stages 3, 4 & 5
• Has strong musical skills and experience of directing ensembles and choirs
• Is keen to contribute to the School’s extensive extra-curricular music programme
• Has a love for music and is passionate about sharing that with our students
• Possesses good keyboard skills
• Is looking to develop as a teacher and musician
• Is a strong team player, able to get along with people in a very busy environment
• Will be imaginative in their approach to classroom teaching and choice of repertoire for extra-curricular groups
• Will have tremendous ambition for the musical achievement of the pupils

How to Apply:

The Director of Music, Scott Price would be very happy to speak to those considering applying before they make an application – please get in touch via email (prices@cvms.sjscat.co.uk).

To apply, please download and complete the application forms available on our Vacancies page. Once you have completed the forms, please email your application to the Human Resources Team via hrteam@sjscat.co.uk.

Shortlisted candidates will be called for interview upon receipt of application, therefore we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School and the Saint John Southworth Catholic Academy Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people. All roles are subject to satisfactory vetting, including an Enhanced DBS check with Children’s Barred List.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA 1974 (Exceptions Order 1975, (amended 2013 and 2020)) provide that when applying for certain jobs, certain spent convictions and cautions are protected and they do not need to be disclosed to employers. If they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. Guidance about whether a conviction or caution should be disclosed can be found on the Ministry of Justice website and further information about filtering offences can be found in DBS filtering guide.