Strings to their bows State school where music is everywhere

It is first thing in the morning at Shireland CBSO Academy in West Bromwich, and the corridors are filled with music.

- Jessica Murray

Scattered throughout the classrooms are a steel pans class, a keyboard group, a guitar group, a wind band, a jazz orchestra, a percussion group, a string orchestra and a choir.

"My favourite time of day is when we open the gates in the mornings and you've got all these children carrying in various shapes and sizes of musical instruments, and it's just completely the norm. It's part of the culture here," said the school principal, David Green.

He leads the first state school in the UK to be set up in conjunction with a professional orchestra - the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) - and music is central to almost everything.

It is incorporated into all subjects, and every child is provided, free of charge, with the loan of an instrument for which they receive weekly tuition provided by Black Country Music Hub. There are Christmas and summer concerts, after-school clubs, ensemble classes, and sessions with CBSO musicians and guests, who give demonstrations and talks, as well as trips to see the orchestra in action.