Music lessons: in school, age 4-18
If your child goes to school in the borough and the school is happy to host lessons, we can arrange for them to have music lessons during the school day at the school. Lesson times are set by the school to fit with their timetables so exact lesson times will vary from school to school. We deliver 10 lessons each term.
Infant schools may offer musicianship (for Reception and Year 1) and Infant recorder and ukulele groups (for Year 2)
Most school lessons will be offered as 30 minute group lessons. If you would prefer an individual lesson, you may prefer applying for lessons at one of our music centres.
Lessons at The Kingston Academy and Hollyfield School are only offered at 25 minutes long.
How much are music lessons?
You can see the latest cost for music lessons on our costs and payment page.
How do I apply?
Apply for music lessons at school
Once you complete the application form, you will be added to our waiting list and a member of our team will be in contact once a lesson time becomes available. Sometimes this will happen quickly, other times there may be a delay if there are no available times or if the school has limited time or space for lessons. When waiting lists are long, we may advise you if lessons are available at one of our music centres as an alternative.
When we have a suitable lesson to offer you, we will email you with an offer. You will be given 5 working days to reply to us before we offer the place to the next student on the waiting list. (Please add musicservice@kingston.gov.uk to your safe sender list to avoid missing this email.) We will generally include a weekend in the 5 working days to give busy parents the opportunity to get back to us. If you are happy to accept the place, please confirm your acceptance ASAP and before the deadline via email. This will commit you to this lesson and our terms and conditions. You will then receive an invoice for the term ahead. Only when the lesson invoice has been paid is the lesson confirmed. If you do not reply to our offer email, we will remove you from the waiting list and you will need to apply again.
I am signed up for lessons but don’t have an instrument
You can hire an instrument from KMS or purchase one using our Assisted Instrument Purchase (AIP) scheme.
How do I pay for lessons?
You will be invoiced a term in advance by email and you can pay online via our SpeedAdmin site. If you haven't received your invoice a week before the start of your scheduled tuition, please email musicservice@kingston.gov.uk
My child no longer wants to learn, how do I cancel lessons?
We always encourage parents to persist with lessons for at least a term in the beginning and communicate with their child’s instrument tutor through the practice notebook. If there are any problems with lessons, you can contact us on musicservice@kingston.gov.uk
If you would still like to cancel tuition, we require half a term’s written notice. Written notification must be received by the Friday preceding half term for lessons to be discontinued from the end of that term. If written notice is not given by this time, you are liable to pay the next term’s fees.
Please refer to our terms and conditions for more information.
Group lessons
Our STARter Groups for beginners are a great way to learn various instruments - they take place at our Music Centres. Our ensemble rehearsals and theory lessons also take place in centres.