How music helps young minds 

Music Squad delivers fun and exciting piano lessons to primary school students - or Squaddies! We do just two formats - individual piano lessons during the school day and a small group, after-school club, called Keyboard Squad. All of our lessons take place in school. Happy days.

Keyboard Squad is a unique after-school club for children of any age and ability to discover the joy of making music with others. The sessions are one hour long and have up to 10 children in each. On a keyboard each (all equipment provided), children will work through our very own Squad Star books and receive individual feedback every week, where they will learn to read music properly. As well as this, there will be lots of musical games, activities, and most excitingly - full group ensemble playing! Every half term the group will learn to play a pop song together and get to enjoy the absolute joy and magic that is ensemble playing. It's super fun, silly, informal and boosts confidence from a young age. Please get in touch with Hannah (hannah@musicsquad.co.uk) to find out which day we deliver after-school clubs at your school.

Individual piano lessons are 20 minutes long, one-to-one, once a week. We think this is the perfect length of time for young learners. Individual lessons will take place during the school day. Keyboard Squad (our after-school club) is one hour long and will take place after school at the end of the school day. You won't need to pick up your child to take them to the club, just pick them up an hour later - we'll let you know when and where.

At your school! Individual lessons will be on the same day every week, all you need to do is make sure your child takes their piano book and practice diary and they'll be collected from class when it's time for their lesson. We'll let you know what room Keyboard Squad will be in.

Our individual lessons cost £15.32 per week and Keyboard Squad (our after-school club) costs £9.95 per week. Music Squad exists to share the joy, friendship and adventure that music can bring to all children and so we want music to be accessible to as many children as possible. Additional support may be available for tuition costs so please get in touch for details. Please be aware, lesson cost may vary between branches, please get in touch with your Branch Owner for more information.

We take all of our payments through Go Cardless, so once you've signed up, you won't need to do anything else! Most of our families choose to spread the cost over easy monthly Direct Debit payments on a day of your choosing. But if you want to pay in one go, that's no problem either - whatever works for you. Our team will let you know every term what payments you have coming up but you can also manage your account in our handy Customer Portal too.

Music Squad has its own unique series of tuition books for all our Squaddies to learn with. The Squad Stars series is a set of 2x specifically written tuition books designed to guide young learners from day one through to their first exam - the Initial Grade. The books are at the centre of everything we do and underpin our approach of fun, silly and joyful learning - whilst also learning to read music properly! It blows our mind when we see six year olds reading music. The books are crammed full of 100% original tunes, silly lyrics, exciting puzzle pages, tonnes of duets and positive reinforcement at every step. Your child's piano teacher will bring their book along to their first lesson and each book costs £12.75.

No! To really make the most of your lessons, it would be beneficial for your child to have access to a keyboard or piano to practise on between lessons. But we see many children making amazing progress without this. If you don't have a piano or a keyboard to start with, perhaps you could give lessons a go for a term and consider buying a small keyboard once you know your child enjoys it, if that is an option for you. If you do want to secure something for at home, even a small or very old keyboard will do the trick to get going. Please let us know if you want any recommendations!

This is the question we love answering the most. Because it's so important! If you're shelling out all this money it's absolutely key that you know how you child is getting on. And especially as lessons are taking place in school, you may never even meet your child's teacher! We totally get this and are proud to say it's something we take super seriously. At Music Squad we use an online parent sharing platform called Seesaw to provide regular pictures and video updates directly from your child's lesson to you. You'll be able to see, like and comment on exactly what has happened in the lesson and through Seesaw you'll also have direct communication your child's teacher too. We also write down progress and practice notes in your child's practice diary each week, as well as publishing end of term reports. Keeping you updated is our priority.

At Music Squad we think exams are a great way to encourage focus and to recognise and celebrate development. But there's no pressure from us. It's really up to you, your child and your child's teacher. But we'll support you either way. The Squad Star books are designed to guide Squaddies from day one to their first exam - the Initial Grade. The ABRSM Initial Grade is a relaxed introduction to the experience of taking an exam and is an informal 'grade 0.5' on the journey to grade one (which can be a really big journey for a little person, or even a big person!). Our Squad Star books are the perfect foundation and introduction to learning the piano whether you go on to take exams or not.

The dreaded P word. There's no escaping it. But practice doesn't have to be a chore! Practicing is a really important part of anybody's development when learning a musical instrument and so it's really helpful if your child gets stuck in at home too. Your teacher will help you and your child understand what to practice, and how to make it fun, but 10 minutes a day a few times a week should do the trick. Bosh. You don't need to be musical to help at home either - just encouraging and listening to your child will make the world of difference. To go alongside our Squad Star books, we are also very excited to be launching an app to help with this very thing. The app is a digital resource designed to encourage Squaddies to practice at home and to help you to help them too! It's super fun, silly, really gamified and is coming very soon - watch this space!

We understand that learning an instrument can be daunting to non-musicians and at Music Squad we're here to change that. If there's anything else that springs to mind, drop us an email, a text, or give us a call, we'd love to chat.

At Music Squad we are literally obsessed with the benefits of learning a musical instrument. It is our sole goal to help your child to fall in love with music and to feel really GOOD about themselves while doing so. We are so confident that your child will love our lessons, that we are happy for you to cancel them at any time. Although we book everyone in for a full term, if you want to leave at any point throughout the term, that is no problem at all. We know that trying out a new activity can be a leap of faith and so we want to do everything we can to encourage you to take it. Since launching Music Squad in September 2021, we are proud to have maintained a 95% retention rate for all Squaddies who start lessons with us. Happy days!

Creating a fun, safe and inclusive space for children to thrive is our top priority and something we take really seriously. All of our safeguarding policies and procedures have been developed in conjunction with the NSPCC and reflect our commitment to creating a culture of safeguarding. You can read about all of our practices in our Safeguarding Policy and Procedures document, here.