How to Choose the Right Music School in London: A Parent’s Checklist

London has no shortage of piano teachers, violin tutors and “music schools” operating out of spare bedrooms, church halls and proper premises alike. That’s good news in one sense — there’s plenty of choice — and slightly overwhelming in another, because not all of it is equally good, and a five-star Google rating doesn’t tell you much about whether a school actually suits your child.

Rather than relying on gut feeling or whichever result comes up first, it helps to have a short list of questions you can actually ask before you commit to a term. None of these questions are difficult, and any school worth choosing should be happy to answer them properly rather than deflecting with a brochure. Here are five that matter more than most.

Question 1: Are Teachers Qualified and DBS-Checked?

This is the non-negotiable one. Every teacher working with your child should hold a current DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check, and it’s entirely reasonable to ask a school directly how they verify this rather than taking it on trust. Beyond safeguarding, ask about musical qualifications too — a diploma or degree from a recognised conservatoire, membership of a professional body such as the ISM or EPTA, or a track record of exam results.

Worth remembering: being an excellent pianist and being a good teacher of children are not the same skill. Some of the most technically accomplished musicians are hopeless at holding a distracted eight-year-old’s attention on a wet Tuesday after school. A good school interviews for both.

At Excelsis: every teacher is DBS-checked as standard, and our team includes members of professional bodies like the ISM and EPTA, several trained through Guildhall and other established conservatoires. You can meet our teaching team before booking anything.

Question 2: Is There a Structured Curriculum and Progression Path?

Ask what a term actually looks like. Is there a plan behind the lessons, or is it “we’ll see how it goes”? A structured approach — one that builds technique, reading and musical understanding in a sensible order — matters more for children than for adults, because children need to feel like they’re getting somewhere to stay motivated.

It’s also worth asking whether the school offers a route towards graded exams (ABRSM or Trinity, most commonly in the UK) for families who want that, and whether that route is optional rather than compulsory. Some children thrive on exams. Others do better focused purely on enjoyment, and a good school won’t force one approach onto every child.

At Excelsis: lessons follow Kodály and Dalcroze-inspired principles, building listening and musical understanding alongside technical skill, with a clear path through ABRSM and Trinity grades from Grade 1 upwards for those who want it. That path isn’t compulsory — plenty of our pupils learn purely for enjoyment and never sit an exam, and that’s treated as a perfectly valid outcome, not a lesser one. Our full programmes page breaks this down by age.

Question 3: Are There Performance or Recital Opportunities?

Learning to play is one thing. Learning to play in front of other people is a separate skill, and it’s the one that actually builds confidence. Ask whether the school runs regular concerts, and — this bit matters — how much pressure surrounds them. The best student concerts are low-stakes: a chance to share what a child has been working on, not a high-pressure exam-style performance that makes anxious children dread the whole evening.

At Excelsis: we run regular student concerts throughout the year, including our annual students’ concert, where everyone from young children in group piano lessons to adult returners takes to the stage. They’re deliberately relaxed. Most parents well up a little. Most children act like it’s nothing.

Question 4: How Are Lessons Paced for a Child’s Attention Span?

Group size matters here more than most parents expect going in. A class of twelve children might sound sociable, but in practice it can mean a child gets only a few minutes of direct feedback per lesson and spends the rest waiting for their turn. Ask how many children are in a typical group class, and how lessons are structured for younger age groups specifically — a four-year-old and an eleven-year-old shouldn’t be taught the same way, even in the same building.

At Excelsis: group classes are kept deliberately small, with lessons structured by age — babies and toddlers, young musicians, and tweens and teens are taught differently, not just given the same content at a slower pace. See how this breaks down across our full music programmes. Every child gets real, individual feedback within the lesson.

Question 5: What Do Other Parents Say?

Reviews matter, but read past the star rating. Look for comments that mention specific teachers by name, how the school handles nervous or reluctant children, and whether families have stayed for years rather than a single term. A school that’s retained the same families since their children were toddlers is telling you something a five-star average can’t.

At Excelsis: we’ve been teaching in North London for over 20 years, and some of our current teenage students started with us as toddlers. You can read what parents and pupils say directly, rather than taking our word for it.

Here’s the checklist at a glance:

Where Excelsis Music Fits

Put the five questions together and you get a fairly clear picture of what to look for: DBS-checked, properly qualified teachers; a real curriculum rather than an improvised one; regular, low-pressure performance opportunities; small groups paced for the age they’re teaching; and a track record parents are willing to vouch for. That’s the checklist we hold ourselves to as a London music school in Southgate, N14, whether your child is four and just starting out or fourteen and picking up an instrument for the first time.