School Workshops
Making music education fun for all!
Our brilliant team of musicians visit local primary schools around Oxfordshire each year, bringing fun and engaging workshops to classrooms across the county. We also have a close relationship with the Dragon School in Oxford and hold regular open workshop days together.
You can help us support our school projects by donating here. Any donation, no matter how small or large, means that we can bring the power of live music to more people.
‘I thought [the workshop day] was very nice because, like the musicians said, we weren’t only playing music, we were making music.’
Year 5 student
Primary & Secondary Education
The Orchestra holds workshops at schools across Oxfordshire where children and young people are able to encounter classical music, often for the first time. Our dedicated team of musician lead these young people in exploring new music and instruments, with the aim of helping them develop musical and holistic skills and of supporting music departments to increase music making in Oxfordshire.
Our Primary School workshops introduce children to new musical experiences, whether performance or composition. In our Secondary School projects we look to support young people’s musical development, encouraging lower years to begin learning an instrument and supporting GCSE and A Level music students.
SEN(D) Schools
At OPO we are passionate about inclusivity and the importance of promoting accessibility in classical music.
Our dedicated team of OPO musicians have visited a number of SEN(D) schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities, where pupils explore how sound is produced, shared and enjoyed.
The orchestra have previously worked with Chilworth House School, Northern House School, Mabel Prichard School and The Mulberry Bush School.
‘I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and all the team at Oxford Philharmonic for a fantastic orchestra day today. The children really enjoyed it and I know it is something they will always remember doing – what an amazing opportunity for them!’
Primary School Teacher
Online resources
In 2020, we started offering digital schools workshops to our Oxfordshire schools and OPO Music Club was born.
Streamed live from the Oxford Philharmonic offices directly into the classroom, our musicians ran fun and energetic virtual workshops for whole classrooms at a time. Not only did this keep children, teachers and our musicians safe, it also meant we were able to see so many more classes of children each week as there was no traveling involved!
Whilst we are no longer running OPO Music Club, head to our YouTube channel to check out all of our OP at Home videos and our Family videos!
If you would like to find out more about any of our school workshops or would be interested running an OPO workshop at your school, please contact OPO Education Officer, Lydia Bennett, [email protected] for more information.
Want to work together?
Drop us an email to let us know you’re interested.