Visiting Music Teacher

The Role

We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and experienced Drum Kit / Percussion Visiting Music Teacher to join our thriving Music Department for the forthcoming session. The successful candidate will be expected to deliver progressive programmes of study tailored to the individual pupils’ needs, whilst encouraging participation in the department’s extensive extra-curricular programme in both Junior and Senior Schools. An interest in teaching pupils from P4 to S6 would be an advantage, along with full knowledge of SQA National Qualifications requirements. Whilst most of the teaching will be in the Drum Kit, the successful candidate may also be required to teach a range of tuned percussion.

There are several sizable music events in the Heriot’s calendar in which the VMTs play a pivotal role: two concerts a year in the Usher Hall, one at Christmas for predominantly Senior School pupils and one with only Junior School performers in May. Major concerts also take place in the Queen’s Hall, St Cuthbert’s Parish Church and St Giles’ Cathedral. Other events in school include a Junior School Music Festival, Senior House Music Competition, as well as many other internal and external events throughout the year. The school presents pupils for both ABRSM and Trinity exams, entry for either board being at the discretion of the VMT. In addition to “Grade” exams, VMTs also play an important part in preparing pupils for the Performing element of SQA exams.

Main Responsibilities

Please see attached for further details. 

The Ideal Candidate

Hours of Work: The VMT is expected to deliver a minimum of 30 lessons per pupil, per session during term-time.  

Lessons take place on the school campus between 7.30am and 4.00pm, and should each last 30 minutes. VMTs are free to determine their own hours of work and availability, subject to the availability of teaching spaces.

Additional Information
Heriot’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.
This post is considered Regulated Work with Vulnerable Children and/or Protected Adults, under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 and the successful candidates will be required to obtain membership of the PVG scheme.

Please note that parking is not available on our campus

George Heriot’s Trust is an Equal Opportunities employer and we welcome applications from all sections of the community.

George Heriot’s School is governed by George Heriot’s Trust, Scottish Charity number SC011463

About the school/organisation

George Heriot’s School

George Heriot’s School is Edinburgh’s leading independent school. Academically proven and recognised as sector-leading by Education Scotland in June 2024, the school’s best practice expertise in wellbeing, equality and inclusion, and in raising attainment and achievement, is acknowledged. The school has 1,670 pupils aged from 4-18, with a distinct family feel shaped by its 400-year motto: I distribute chearfullie. Working hard, being kind, and being yourself are the values which bind staff and pupils into a cohesive whole. Put simply, Heriot’s cares about its staff and pupils.

As Edinburgh’s oldest school, Heriot’s was founded through the generosity of George Heriot, jeweller and goldsmith to the court of King James VI/I and his wife Queen Anne. Goldsmiths at that time were the principal money lenders and Heriot was able to amass a small fortune which he left to found a school for the ‘poor bairns of Edinburgh’.  Since it opened, the Foundation at Heriot’s has developed an unrivalled understanding of providing bereavement support and over the years has educated in excess of 5,700 Foundation pupils, each of whom received a fully funded education in keeping with the Founder’s wishes.

Separately, the school has continued to apply the transformative powers of education, opening 21 Out Schools in the 1800s which educated over 100,000 boys and girls in Edinburgh before the advent of the Children’s Act, and more recently supporting Serbian, Syrian and Ukrainian refugees to build a better life in Scotland. Each year the school spends approximately £1.3 million to support the education of bursary and Foundation pupils.

Today the school is an award-winning beacon: the only school in Scotland to receive the Gold Award from SAPERE for its teaching of philosophy in Junior School; awarded a third consecutive gold award for being a UNICEF Rights Respecting School and being voted the Sunday Times School of the Decade by readers in their Parent Power survey.