Music
Which schools in England make Music a big part of the curriculum, and where results are strongest. Entries and grades from the 2025 performance tables.
Music GCSE was taken in 2,585 schools in England in 2025, with 33,955 entries — about 5% of the Year 11 cohort.
Nationally 33% of entries achieved grade 7 or above. The tables below show the schools where the largest share of pupils take the subject, and where grades are highest (schools with at least 20 entries).
At Chetham's School of Music (Manchester) 100% of the year group took Music.
GCSE: schools with the highest share of grades 7–9
Schools with at least 20 entries. England: 33% of entries graded 7–9. High grades often reflect who is admitted (selective and independent schools) as much as teaching.
| # | School | Local authority | Entries | Cohort | Share | Grades 7–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Perse School | Cambridgeshire | 25 | 196 | 13% | 100% |
| 2 | Westminster School | Westminster | 23 | 122 | 19% | 100% |
| 3 | Putney High School GDST | Wandsworth | 20 | 107 | 19% | 100% |
| 4 | Cheltenham Ladies' College | Gloucestershire | 20 | 142 | 14% | 100% |
| 5 | Haberdashers' Girls' School | Hertfordshire | 20 | 124 | 16% | 100% |
| 6 | Radley College | Oxfordshire | 20 | 154 | 13% | 100% |
| 7 | Eton College | Windsor and Maidenhead | 38 | 269 | 14% | 97% |
| 8 | The Tiffin Girls' School | Kingston upon Thames | 32 | 176 | 18% | 97% |
| 9 | The Manchester Grammar School | Manchester | 29 | 212 | 14% | 97% |
| 10 | Loreto Grammar School | Trafford | 28 | 157 | 18% | 96% |
| 11 | Magdalen College School | Oxfordshire | 27 | 113 | 24% | 96% |
| 12 | Royal Grammar School Guildford | Surrey | 23 | 145 | 16% | 96% |
| 13 | Wilson's School | Sutton | 22 | 186 | 12% | 95% |
| 14 | Chelmsford County High School for Girls | Essex | 41 | 180 | 23% | 95% |
| 15 | The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe | Buckinghamshire | 38 | 207 | 18% | 95% |
| 16 | The Henrietta Barnett School | Barnet | 32 | 104 | 31% | 94% |
| 17 | South Hampstead High School GDST | Camden | 27 | 105 | 26% | 93% |
| 18 | Dame Alice Owen's School | Hertfordshire | 26 | 200 | 13% | 92% |
| 19 | Highgate School | Haringey | 24 | 182 | 13% | 92% |
| 20 | Oundle School | North Northamptonshire | 22 | 197 | 11% | 91% |
| 21 | Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School | Lincolnshire | 22 | 178 | 12% | 91% |
| 22 | Graveney School | Wandsworth | 21 | 286 | 7% | 90% |
| 23 | Wycombe High School | Buckinghamshire | 29 | 187 | 16% | 90% |
| 24 | Shrewsbury School | Shropshire | 28 | 168 | 17% | 89% |
| 25 | The Blue Coat School | Liverpool | 32 | 176 | 18% | 88% |
| 26 | Whitgift School | Croydon | 23 | 255 | 9% | 87% |
| 27 | Dr Challoner's High School | Buckinghamshire | 23 | 183 | 13% | 87% |
| 28 | The Abbey School Reading | Reading | 22 | 118 | 19% | 86% |
| 29 | Gosforth Academy | Newcastle upon Tyne | 22 | 401 | 5% | 86% |
| 30 | Saint Ambrose College | Trafford | 21 | 150 | 14% | 86% |
| 31 | Channing School | Haringey | 27 | 116 | 23% | 85% |
| 32 | Ipswich School | Suffolk | 26 | 141 | 18% | 85% |
| 33 | Nonsuch High School for Girls | Sutton | 26 | 233 | 11% | 85% |
| 34 | Tiffin School | Kingston upon Thames | 31 | 180 | 17% | 84% |
| 35 | Westcliff High School for Boys Academy | Southend-on-Sea | 35 | 177 | 20% | 83% |
| 36 | Malvern College | Worcestershire | 23 | 141 | 16% | 83% |
| 37 | Pate's Grammar School | Gloucestershire | 28 | 151 | 19% | 82% |
| 38 | Dartford Grammar School | Kent | 48 | 179 | 27% | 81% |
| 39 | Bromsgrove School | Worcestershire | 21 | 228 | 9% | 81% |
| 40 | The Latymer School | Enfield | 31 | 191 | 16% | 81% |
What pupils learn in Music, stage by stage
England has no national year-by-year syllabus: exam boards and schools set the order within each stage. These are the statutory blocks from the Department for Education, so a parent can see what a child meets in Years 7–9, what every GCSE candidate must cover, and what waits in the sixth form.
What Key Stage 3 Music teaches · Years 7–9
9 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Arts & Humanities (8), Digital & ICT Skills (1). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
Subject content9
- perform confidently in solo and ensemble contexts using voice and instruments — ensemble performance, solo performance
- improvise and compose music using a range of musical structures and styles — composition, improvisation, musical structure
- develop musical ideas by drawing on genres and traditions — genre, musical idea, tradition
- use staff notation accurately in a range of musical styles — musical style, staff notation
- identify the inter-related dimensions of music — pitch, structure, tempo, texture
- use musical dimensions expressively, including tonalities and scales — musical device, scale, tonality
- use technology appropriately when performing and composing — music technology
- listen with discrimination to music by great composers and musicians — composer, critical listening
- explain the history of the music they perform and listen to — music history, performance context
Source: DfE National Curriculum in England, Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.
What GCSE Music teaches · Years 10–11
23 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Arts & Humanities (21), Social & Cultural Skills (1), Digital & ICT Skills (1). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
Musical elements7
- identify chord progressions and melodic devices such as cadences and sequence — cadence, chord progression, sequence
- identify tonality including major, minor and modulation — modulation, tonality
- identify musical structures such as verse-chorus, binary and theme and variations — form, musical structure
- identify instrumental and vocal timbres and articulation — articulation, timbre
- identify textures including unison, chordal and solo combinations — musical line, texture
- identify tempo, metre and rhythmic devices such as dotted rhythms — metre, rhythm, tempo
- identify dynamic devices such as crescendo and diminuendo — dynamics
Musical contexts2
- explain how purpose and intention shape how music is created and performed — intention, musical context, purpose
- explain how audience, time and place shape how music is created and performed — audience, historical context
Musical language3
- read and write staff notation including clefs, rhythm and key signatures — key signature, staff notation
- use major and minor chord symbols in traditional and contemporary notation — chord symbol, notation
- use appropriate musical vocabulary and terminology — musical vocabulary, terminology
Perform3
- perform music with technical control and expression using instruments or voice — expression, technical control
- perform music with appropriate phrasing and dynamics for style and mood — dynamics, phrasing, style
- realise music using music technology as a means of performing or composing — music technology, realisation
Compose2
- compose music using musical elements, techniques and resources with technical control — composition, musical idea
- compose music that explores musical structures and conventions in response to a brief — brief, musical structure
Appraise3
- analyse and evaluate music using knowledge of musical elements, contexts and language — critical judgement, musical analysis
- analyse unfamiliar music using knowledge of musical elements, contexts and language — aural analysis, unfamiliar music
- formulate critical judgements about music through attentive listening — aural perception, critical judgement
Areas of Study3
- place music studied within a wider cultural and chronological context — chronology, musical context
- study repertoire from the Western Classical Tradition (1650-1910) — repertoire, western classical tradition
- study repertoire outside the Western Classical Tradition — genre, non-western repertoire
Source: DfE GCSE music subject content (2015), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.
What A level Music teaches · Years 12–13
30 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Arts & Humanities (28), Social & Cultural Skills (1), Digital & ICT Skills (1). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
Musical elements11
- explain how pitch is organised melodically and harmonically including cadencesYear 13 — cadence, pitch organisation
- explain complex chord progressions such as secondary dominantsYear 13 — chord progression
- explain key relationships including the circle of fifthsYear 13 — key relationship, tonality
- explain complex and remote key relationships including enharmonic modulationYear 13 — key relationship, modulation
- analyse musical structures such as sonata formYear 13 — musical structure, sonata form
- analyse complex structures such as fugue and through-composed musicYear 13 — fugue, through-composed form
- explain combinations of vocal and instrumental sonority and techniqueYear 13 — instrumental technique, sonority
- analyse complex textures such as homophony, polyphony and fugueYear 13 — polyphony, texture
- analyse metrical and rhythmic devices such as syncopation and polyrhythmYear 13 — metre, rhythm
- analyse the use of dynamics and expressive devices in musicYear 13 — dynamics
- explain the interdependence between musical elements and their contextYear 13 — musical interdependence
Musical contexts3
- explain how purpose and intention shape the creation of musicYear 13 — compositional purpose, musical context
- explain how audience, time and place affect musical performanceYear 13 — performance context
- explain how music from different contexts has changed over timeYear 13 — musical chronology
Musical language4
- notate music using staff notation including key and time signaturesYear 13 — key signature, staff notation
- use chords and chord symbols including inversions and extended chordsYear 13 — chord inversion, chord symbol
- use musical vocabulary and terminology relevant to an area of studyYear 13 — musical terminology
- use music technology to create and present musicYear 13 — music technology
Performing3
- perform music with technical and expressive control appropriate to style and contextYear 13 — musical style, performance technique
- perform music with control and continuity at appropriate tempiYear 13 — performance continuity, tempo
- perform music fluently showing understanding of overall shape and directionYear 13 — performance fluency
Composing3
- compose music using musical elements, techniques and conventionsYear 13 — composition, musical device
- compose music in response to a brief or commissionYear 13 — compositional brief
- compose music that is musically convincing with sophisticated use of elementsYear 13 — sophisticated composition
Appraising5
- evaluate repertoire and musical interpretations through attentive listeningYear 13 — aural analysis, interpretation
- evaluate unfamiliar music using knowledge of musical elements and contextYear 13 — critical judgement, unfamiliar music
- comment on music heard using knowledge of genres, styles and traditions studiedYear 13 — genre, style
- comment in detail on music heard using critical understanding across traditionsYear 13 — critical commentary
- evaluate music using acute aural perception and technical vocabularyYear 13 — aural perception, technical vocabulary
Areas of Study1
- study areas of music drawn from the Western Classical Tradition and beyondYear 13 — area of study, western classical tradition
Source: DfE GCE AS and A level music subject content (2014), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.