- Job title: Musician in Residence (Organist and/or Accompanist)
- Job Type: Permanent, Part Time (16 hours per week)
- Salary: £15,000 per annum (17,086.50 if full pension flex benefit is utilised), FTE - £37,500
- Department: Music
- Reporting to: Director of Music
- Location: Highgate Senior School
- Start: January 2027
- Closing Date: 13 November 2026 at 9:00 am
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We are seeking an outstanding and versatile musician to join our thriving Music Department as a Musician in Residence. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a rich and ambitious programme of music-making, supporting pupils across academic, choral, instrumental and performance activities while playing a central role in the musical life of the school.
The position has been designed with flexibility in mind. We welcome applications from candidates who are primarily organists, primarily accompanists, or who are equally confident fulfilling both aspects of the role. Applicants should make clear in their application whether they are applying for the organist position, the accompanist position, or a combined organist and accompanist.
We are committed to appointing the strongest candidate or candidates and are therefore willing to shape the final responsibilities of the post to reflect the skills, experience and expertise of the successful applicant(s).
We welcome applications from recent graduates or more experienced candidates.
The Department The music department at Highgate is a vibrant and creative hotbed of talent that sits at the heart of school life. Highgate has a long and distinguished musical tradition: former pupils include John Rutter CBE, Sir John Tavener, Howard Shelley OBE, Daniel Hope and more recently composer Lawrence Osborn, Opera director Eleanor Burke, and conductor Michael Papadopoulos. The Senior School Music Department has its base in Dyne House where it has offices and teaching rooms for the full-time staff, twelve teaching/practice rooms, five classrooms (including an IT music suite and a keyboard room), and a recital/rehearsal room, as well as a 300-seater auditorium refitted with the latest technology in acoustic design.
Individual music lessons are given in all the usual instruments and singing with over 55% of the School's pupils having music lessons and over 700 lessons given per week. A number of pupils attend the junior departments of London music colleges and participate in the LSSO and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
The culture of performance is strong right across the school, with termly opportunities for individuals to perform in small-scale Performance Platforms, as well as large ensemble concerts at the end of each term, services for major events and Chapel Choirs provide music for evensong services. Jazz and Contemporary music are both extremely popular and pupils form bands and have the opportunity to perform in a Contemporary Music showcase concert each term both inside school and in outside venues such as the Camden Assembly, Pizza Express, Dean Street, Kings Place and The Roundhouse Theatre.
What I love about the music department at Highgate is that it's so diverse - we have musicians that play every different genre of music, and performance opportunities that embrace this. One day a pupil could be singing a Renaissance piece in a choir or playing the violin in the Chamber Orchestra and the next performing a Pop song at one of the open mic nights!
- Highgate Music Teacher
Job Description
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES Organist duties: - Figurehead for Organ playing in the senior school
- Overseeing and organising organ playing for weekly breaktime services and end of term services
- Directing/playing for a Chapel Choir in the Senior School
- Playing for breaktime chapel services
- Playing for school services e.g. Alumni Evensong, Valedictory Service, Holy Communions, Advent, Remembrance etc.
- Organising organ department trips & practice times at external venues in London
- Taking Junior School chorister rehearsals
- Teaching organ lessons as required as a VMT (paid additionally to SOIR)
Accompanist duties: - Playing for GCSE and A Level recordings Accompanying weekly A Level performance classes and recitals
- Accompanying Highgate Young Musician of the Year Competition
- Accompanying Highgate Emerging Talent Competition
- Accompanying solo platform concerts and end of term concerts
- Accompanying ABRSM exams across the foundation
- Accompanying Chorale (our auditioned chamber choir) for weekly rehearsals and termly concerts
- Accompanying vocal rehearsals for the school musical
These duties and responsibilities are intended as a guide. They are not exhaustive: the Musician in Residence will be expected to undertake any reasonable task or responsibility as required by the Director of Music. Person Specification
- Criteria
- How will these be tested or verified?
- Qualifications and Professional Bodies
- Essential:
- Must possess a qualification in their instrument to at least degree level or hold a BA or equivalent in academic music.
- Safeguarding + Prevent Awareness Training (or ability to complete this during the onboarding process and prior to starting in the role)
Desirable:
- A Master's degree or equivalent in a related discipline.
- Skills and Experience
- Essential:
- Be an excellent sight-reader with an extensive repertoire as an organist/accompanist
- Confident performer with experience of working at a high level as an organist/accompanist
- Experience of accompanying pupils of all ages at all levels, including advanced pupils
- Be a 'team' player with ability to work flexibly as part of a team
- The ability to be a good role model to pupils of all ages and to support them in their studies
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Well-developed organisational, administrative and IT skills
- Be positive and enthusiastic, with a pro-active 'can do' attitude
- Have the ability to adapt to changing situations
BenefitsLocation | Highgate Village, adjacent to Hampstead Heath, with quaint shops and easy connections across London.
Pension | AVIVA workplace pension scheme offered - 26% employer contribution, with the ability to flex up to 16% of this as additional non-pensionable salary, employees contribute a minimum of 5%.
Personal development | Comprehensive induction support for new staff. Focus on continued professional development for all employees.
Leisure facilities | Free access, at stipulated times, to our sports facilities, including a fitness suite and swimming pool (recently refurbished).
Lunch | A complimentary lunch including hot meals, sandwiches, salads, fresh fruit and dessert.
Help with sustainable travel | Access to the Cycle to Work Scheme and a Season Ticket Loan scheme for public transport.
Family-friendly policies | Highgate appreciates that employees sometimes have family commitments so we try to be as supportive as possible, for example with enhanced maternity pay (8 weeks' full pay, then 10 weeks' half pay) and paid dependant leave.
Working at HighgateA culture of community, kindness and belongingHighgate is a caring, open-minded community, where we promote kindness, empathy and friendship. Everyone who works and studies with us deserves to feel they are part of a welcoming environment that enables them to be themselves and to thrive as individuals.
Our community extends beyond the school, through partnerships, charity work and our commitment to equality, inclusion and sustainability. All members of our school community are encouraged to look outwards and play an active role.
Following a visit from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in September 2024 to assess Highgate's regulatory compliance and school standards, we are pleased to share the inspection findings, which reports compliance in all five areas and a 'significant strength' in our teaching expertise.
Staff wellbeingHighgate is committed to staff wellbeing, which we promote by encouraging a strong work-life balance; trying our best to support flexible working requests; providing a nutritious complimentary lunch in the dining hall; and offering access to sporting facilities including our recently renovated swimming pool.
The Staff Wellbeing Committee, with representatives across the School, meets regularly to drive forward initiatives, and a selection of staff have been trained as Mental-Health First Aiders.
We encourage an open culture throughout our school, with regular staff surveys, action committees and opportunities to feedback. We strive for continual learning and improvement, and staff training and development is paramount. There are opportunities to participate in the wider life of our school, such as taking part in trips or societies and getting involved in partnership projects.
More details about working at Highgate can be found here:
Work with us Aims + Ethos
A fun, collaborative and forward-thinking environment with a real sense of community
- Philippa Studd, Junior School Principal
Charitable work and sustainabilityAs an independent school, we want to use our position as a charity effectively: to make high-quality education accessible to as many children as possible - through our bursary programme at Highgate and through our work with local state schools. We have partnerships with over 60 state schools across 7 London boroughs, and we are the principal educational sponsor for London Academy of Excellence, Tottenham - an academically-selective state sixth form in a community where such opportunities are lacking.
Alongside this, our staff and pupils undertake charitable activities throughout the year. These range from staff giving up their time to neighbourhood schools and charitable organisations, focused fundraising campaigns, to pupils undertaking community work in the local area or further afield.
As a school, we have a central role to play in educating our pupils, staff and parents about the importance of environmental sustainability. We are taking positive action to adapt our operational performance to tackle the negative effects of climate change. We encourage all our staff to reflect upon their personal and professional practices, to support our environmental agenda and to make positive changes wherever possible.
Application procedure- Closing Date: 13th November 2026
- Video Interviews: w/c 16th November 2026
- In Person Interviews: w/c 23rd November 2026
Contact: The Recruitment Team are happy to answer any questions about this post.
Early Application: Applications will be considered 'as and when' received and we may close the vacancy if we appoint before the closing date.
Apply here
Inclusion We know that more diverse teams are stronger teams, and that the more inclusive we are, the more our staff and pupils will feel a sense of belonging and will thrive.
We are aware that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented in independent education institutions and we're working to doing what we can to redress this. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people from minoritised ethnic and racial backgrounds, people with a disability and/or neurodiverse applicants (including those with a 'hidden' disability, LGBTQ+ people, as we are working to make our staff body more representative of the UK and London population.
We are also aware that many highly capable prospective candidates nonetheless rule themselves out of applying for positions because they may underestimate their own ability to do the role. With this in mind, we strongly encourage applications from anyone who is prepared to learn and develop professionally on the job and would like to stress that past experience of working in education, or admissions is not required.
If this application process doesn't support your needs and you would like to discuss additional support to apply, please contact Recruitment@highgateschool.org.uk
SafeguardingAs this role will have regular unsupervised contact with children you must, if appointed, comply with Highgate's Safeguarding Policy and Staff Code of Conduct. If in the course of carrying out the duties of the post the post holder becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety and welfare of our pupils, these concerns must be reported immediately in accordance with the Safeguarding Policy. If whilst in the post, Highgate becomes aware of any safeguarding concerns to staff, pupils or the community; these will need to be followed up in line with the safeguarding policy and code of conduct which is underpinned by KCSIE and other legislation. These concerns may need to be shared with other agencies. A copy of these policies will accompany all offers of employment. Training will also be provided to all staff to support Safeguarding practice - this is to be completed during onboarding and prior to appointment.
Please read before you applyHighgate is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to this post, including checks with past employers, the Disclosure and Barring Service and overseas police check if necessary. Candidates from overseas must provide information about their past conduct, for example, by providing documents issued by overseas teaching authorities. DBS Privacy Policy
Please note that this role is 'exempt' from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore, you are required to declare any convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings that are not 'protected' (i.e. filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, prior to the date of the interview. DBS Code of Practice
In accordance with the latest guidance from KCSIE, we shall be conducting online searches on any candidates who are shortlisted.