Advisory Board

Musician, Facilitator, Coach and Mentor

Gennie is a musician, facilitator, coach and mentor based in London. She has worked in a range of fields across orchestras and chamber ensembles, music theatre and community music as both a performer and leader around the UK. With over ten years of experience in music education, Gennie has a wealth of skills and knowledge, with a particular focus on making music with children in the early years and people of all ages with SEND. She currently works as a music practitioner for Soundabout and The Amber Trust, working with families to use music as a tool of communication.

Head of Performing Arts, Cranbourne School

Glyn Juliff is currently head of performing arts at Cranbourne School in Basingstoke, Hampshire, which he enjoys massively. He has a huge passion for theatre and education and recently completed his MA Education through the University of Winchester, where he completed a thesis on understanding failure within the performing arts subjects and how students can learn from that. Glyn enjoys imparting knowledge from reading periodicals and listening to podcasts with his team.
 

Teacher, Research Practitioner, Workshop Facilitator, Consultant and Mentor                      
With over 20 years’ experience, Jo Lee has developed drama and performing arts pedagogy in outstanding organisations across the UK, south-east Asia and the Middle East. She completed her MEd at Trinity College, Dublin, in 2018, with her research focusing on using drama as a pedagogical tool to enhance learning in a variety of subjects and with all age ranges. She has presented her research at the World Alliance for Arts Education (Frankfurt 2019) and the IDiERI 10 (Warwick 2022). She is passionate about building creative confidence.

‘Learn Through Drama’ Practitioner

Margaret has 30 years’ experience teaching in the primary, secondary and higher education sectors in the UK and US. She holds an MA in drama in education and a PhD in literacy studies, and her research on drama as a tool for science literacy was published by Routledge in 2019. She has also written a handbook for primary and secondary teachers on using drama across the curriculum (UKLA 2021). Her experience of drama as a cross-curricular tool has included working with physicists to develop drama workshops for visually impaired students learning about particle collision and the Large Hadron Collider.

Music teacher, 'Teaching Notes' Podcast Presenter, Freelance Musician and Radio Producer

Patrick Johns teaches music (KS3-5) at the Tiffin Girls’ School. He is also a subject expert for Ofqual, former A Level examiner for Eduqas and former classical and jazz expert for Trinity College London. He presents the popular music education podcast Teaching Notes, having conducted over 250 interviews with leading music educators and musicians, with over 35,000 downloads. He is also a freelance trombonist and arranger, having played jazz, classical, pop, rock and ska all over the world, notably with the quintet Oompah Brass. Patrick produces the BBC Radio 2 show Top Brass, having formerly produced for BBC Radio 3, and he is an experienced deliverer of CPD at conferences and online on topics such as blues, jazz, improvisation, popular song and podcasting.

Head of Music and Creative Arts, Hartsdown Academy

Peter Futcher is a music educator, conductor and animateur with wide-ranging experience in schools as well as performance, consultancy and training. Active as a composer and writer, he is particularly interested in the application of technology and AI in curriculum design and delivery. He has been central to facilitating paper-free environments in several multi-academy trusts and is on a mission to maximise meaningful creative arts integration to enhance resources and outcomes for all students through the intelligent implementation of digital technologies.

Director of Drama, Headington School

Phil has been director of drama at Headington School, Oxford, for five years and is currently enjoying a second stint as acting head of performing arts, line managing the music and dance departments. Prior to this, he was head of drama at St Mary’s School, Gerrards Cross, for four years but started his career in a non-selective mixed state school in High Wycombe after training at Central and earning his BA degree from the University of Essex. He teaches all age groups through to A Level and directs the main school productions as well as smaller festival performances, which have returned some silverware! Last year, he spoke at the Annual Conference for Leaders of Co-Curricular Activities, hosted by Coach Education, on how to create an excellent provision for co-curricular drama in schools.

Primary Music Specialist, Lecturer and Author

Sarah Lloyd is a primary music specialist with over 20 years’ experience. She is the music leader in a large inner-city primary school teaching EYFS and primary while supporting colleagues across the city to develop their music provision. She works closely with her local music hub as a primary specialist, sitting on the strategic board. She leads CPD sessions for teachers and lectures in primary music and works with national organisations to create learning resources to develop their educational offerings.

Music Educator

Tolu McCarthy has been working in education for just under ten years but has spent the latter part of her career as a music teacher in an inner London primary school. She believes that everyone should have access to high-quality music education and has tailored her career to championing that vision. Alongside working in education, Tolu is a trustee for the Music Education Council and a host on Teachers Talk Radio. When she is not at work, you might find Tolu singing at a function or reading a good book.