Latest news

Westminster City School students were recently featured in a special edition of the Sunday programme Songs of Praise: School Hymns, which aired on Sunday 31 August on BBC One. The episode which is now available online (click here to access) includes interviews with our students from 24:07 to 25:45, as they shared their thoughts and experiences of the project.

This episode celebrated the power of music in childhood, with presenter Mark De-Lisser, meeting music teacher James B Partridge, who has gained nationwide recognition for his assembly hymn performances.

Westminster City School’s involvement came through Ed Watkins, director of the Inner Voices Youth Choir and the Elemental Music app, who recommended Westminster City School because of the strong reputation of our talented young singers and songwriters.

Students took part in a creative workshop linked to the programme, which gave them the opportunity to explore hymn writing and how to arrange music in new and exciting ways.

Sixth Form student, Alex, who is now in Year 13, shared:

“It was really interesting to take a well known hymn such as ‘Be Thou My Vision’ and see how possible it is for us to add our own creative twist onto it. I learned a lot about lyrical writing and arranging music.”

Athena, also now in Year 13, added:

“My family are really into BBC Songs of Praise, so to be able to participate in a workshop that is directed for this programme means a lot to me.”

Seth Pinnock, founder of We Are Symphony, whose work is featured in the segment, praised our students’ contributions. He said:

“We are so grateful for the incredible and talented students from Westminster City School who engaged in our workshop so well. We look forward to working with them again and are excited that they are able to see the finished product.”

Ms Chan, Head of Music at Westminster City School, expressed her pride in the students’ achievements, saying:

“I am so proud of our students who took part in the workshop with the BBC. They were incredibly eloquent, creative and their songwriting and music arranging truly excelled. It was wonderful to see the passion and skills they’ve developed at school come to life in this experience.”

Well done to all students who participated in this exciting project, you should be very proud.