The snow's gone and everybody can now concentrate on where we are up to within our instrumental programme as we approach the middle of the academic year.

To this end we are well into our first assessment period which represents a snapshot of standards across the music service with assessments for all brass, strings, keyboards, woodwind and drum pupils having been rolled out with other disciplines to follow later in the year.

These are not exams but a system to ensure that for both pupils and tutors that the basic techniques have been covered and taught in instrumental lessons.