The Creative Arts
‘Music at St Andrew’s is in a class of its own. Performing arts are joyful.'
Good Schools Guide
Music
‘Music for All’ is a fundamental principle at St Andrew’s. Around 40% of our students learn an instrument or sing, with over 170 individual music lessons every week, provided by15 visiting teachers. We have three choirs in the School (Seniors, Juniors and Pre-Prep) who perform weekly in chapel services. The annual Section Music Competition is a musical highlight and the Senior Choir sings Evensong at a major cathedral each year.
Weekly ensemble groups include guitar group, two brass groups, concert band, big band, flute ensemble, string quarter, string orchestra, junior strings, and clarinet group. All genres of music are catered for including classical, jazz and rock. Rapping has not featured yet but there is no reason to see why it might not appear in the future!
Overseas music tours take place every other year, and have included trips to Jersey, performing at Mont Orgueil Castle and St Savior’s church in St Helier, and more recently, to Sicily, in the Duomo di Taormina and the Duomo di Giarre.
Drama
Weekly drama lessons, drama clubs, LAMDA classes and public speaking (part of the English curriculum) are held in our new Performing Arts Centre. Opened in June 2025, it has state-of-the-art theatre equipment and retractable seating for 200.
Recent school productions have included Annie and Oliver!
Art & DT
The school has a well-equipped Art Department, and from September 2025, will have lessons in the Design & Innovation Hub.
Our annual art exhibition - featuring at least one piece of work from every pupil in the School - is one of the most popular St Andrew's events of the calendar. Art and Design Scholarships were awarded from Bradfield College and Stowe during the 2024 - 2025 academic year.
In Pre-Prep, the core elements of DT are incorporated within the curriculum, and include practical skills in Forest School taught by our qualified Forest School Leaders, fine tuning motor skills with ‘dough disco’ in the classroom, craft making, model building and cooking and nutrition.
