friday, 19 september 2025
St Mary’s Music School reflects on a year of growth and achievement
Welcoming new pupils and staff, reflecting on the past year, and looking ahead to the 2025–26 highlights
Last session (2024–25) was both challenging and rewarding. We received a full HMI inspection - with an excellent outcome - and pupil numbers grew from 63 at the start of the session to 72 for the new session (2025-2026). Under the leadership of Fiona Akers, we have recruited five new Board members with a range of experience including former St Mary’s Music School teacher, Kenneth Simpson.
New Pupils and staff
This year we are delighted to welcome 18 new pupils, 12 instrumentalists, 1 singer and 5 choristers. With 31 boarders, the school is thriving, though increasing chorister numbers, in partnership with the Cathedral, is a priority. A warm welcome to new staff members Gill Dean (Geography), Chris Flynn (Euphonium), Rachel Spencer (Violin), Katrina McKinnon (Chorister Singing), Catriona Hewitson (Singing) and Fergus Fitzpatrick (House Parent).
Academic Results
Academically, results were strong across the board, with notable success at A Level Music, and plans are underway to further develop our curriculum for Academic Music from P5 to A Level, overseen by Dr Caroline Cradock.
Performances
Musically, the year was rich and varied. Concerts at the end of each term reached consistently high levels, while the launch of SMMS on Tour created new performance opportunities for pupils in Scotland and beyond, including a Strings Day in Harrogate, coordinated by Head of Strings, Dr Valerie Pearson.
Summer
Over the summer, the School hosted a fully subscribed International Piano Summer School and the inaugural Vocal Summer School. Both of these residential courses culminated in Edinburgh Festival Fringe concerts at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral. The School’s instrument collection has been significantly enhanced with gifts, including a Bösendorfer grand piano, a viol consort, Baroque stringed instruments and period wind instruments.
Dr Cradock organised a free maintenance report on the Collins Organ by Warren Marsh of Clevedon Pipe Organs, Devon and they have outlined the work necessary to make an already good instrument into a very fine one. We will be working with both Caroline and our Development Department to have that work funded and completed.
Looking ahead
Three priorities define the School Improvement Plan for this session:
- Gaining Rights Respecting School Status, led by Greg Murray
- A group considering the effects of AI on our specialist education, led by Yvonne Jarron, which will produce policy documents so that we can aim to take advantage of what AI has to offer, without diluting our education or compromising the pupils’ own work.
- Enabling the pupils to continually track their achievements and in the process have an up-to-date biography and record of achievement.
Upcoming session and highlights
For the upcoming session, Composition Club is back, in part to support the academic side of composition, but mainly to keep encouraging our younger pupils flex their creative muscles under the supervision of Dr Neil Smith.
Highlights of the 2025–26 calendar include a return to Harrogate with SMMS on Tour, our annual Christmas Concert at St Cuthbert’s featuring music by Pēteris Vasks and C.P.E. Bach, a Spring collaboration with the St Mary’s Cathedral Choirs performing the Duruflé Requiem, our second Vocal Scenes Concert at Stockbridge Parish Church and a final Summer Concert at the Queen’s Hall. Details of all our upcoming events will be available on the website in due course.
We are inviting interested young musicians to apply to the school. Instrumentalist auditions will take place on Friday 10 October and for singers and instrumentalists on Tuesday 16 December. Should you require further detail on the admissions process, please contact admissions@smms.uk,
Celebrating two generous Legacies
As noted above, we have recently taken delivery of a suite of Baroque and Renaissance instruments, including a complete string quartet, a viol consort and assorted period wind instruments, thanks to the generous legacy of School supporter Kate Cullen. We also received a very fine Bösendorfer Grand Piano from the estate of Iain Gilchrist, who was a keen musician and pianist himself. We are enormously grateful to those kind individuals who choose to leave a gift in their wills to the School, gifts that will benefit our aspiring young musicians for many years to come. If you are interested in finding out more about leaving your own legacy to the School, please get in touch with Caroline Libberton, our Development Manager, at clibberton@smms.uk or on 0131 538 7766 for a chat.
Our Supporters
We are enormously grateful to the Friends of St Mary's Music School and our Circle of Patrons for supporting our young musicians and helping us to deliver an outstanding music and academic education for them. We are busy finalising details of this year’s programme of Patron Circle events and our Annual Friends Event and look forward to sharing details of these in due course. If you would like to join our wonderful community of supporters, please head to our website to find out more or get in touch with Caroline Libberton at clibberton@smms.uk or on 0131 538 7766.
Upcoming Dates
For those interested in exploring specialist music education, our first Instrumental Taster Day of the year will take place on Sunday 5 October. For those considering applying, our first audition date will be held on Friday 10 October for instrumentalists, with a second date on Tuesday 16 December for both singers and instrumentalists. For more information and to sign up and apply follow the links below or contact our admissions department, admissions@smms.uk
Please note that half term will run from Monday 13 to Monday 20 October inclusive.
Looking ahead, our annual Christmas Concert will be held at The Parish Church of St Cuthbert on Monday 15 December. Always a highlight of the school year, this special event is not to be missed. Tickets will be available soon.
