Extra curricular music program
Wilkins Public School is very fortunate to have a wide range of music ensemble opportunities available to its students. These include both instrumental and vocal ensembles. Students can hire instruments, access tutors to come into the school outside of school time, and join one of our many music ensembles.
Wilkins Music Ensembles 2025
Below are the teachers, rehearsal times, days and location for each music group.
Fees
Annual Wilkins Music Association fee $80
Annual Wilkins Music Association fee $80 (covers music purchases, teacher training, equipment purchases) NB: If your child is in more than one ensemble, you only pay this fee once.
Annual instrument hire $200 (includes general maintenance and servicing)
Private tuition: approx $40 for a half hour lesson (once a week) please check with individual tutors.
Some ensembles are outsourced and may attract an additional fee of $10 per rehearsal to cover the cost of the ensemble directors.
Private Tuition
Many of our students, from Kindergarten to Year 6, take private tuition to learn to play a musical instrument of their choice. Wilkins Public School helps to facilitate this by enabling private tutors to come to the school grounds — before and after school and at lunchtimes. The students and their families can make direct arrangements with the tutor of their choice.
The student’s parents can contact the tutor directly to coordinate lessons, including finding a suitable regular weekly time and information about which room in the school the student should meet the tutor. For some tutors, waiting lists may apply.
Instrument Tutors
How to hire an instrument
Email wilkins-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au with your instument request, you will then be sent an invoice to pay the hire fee. Once you have paid the invoice the instrument will be delivered to your child at school.
Note: If you hire an instrument from the school your child must participate in an ensemble.
The instruments that are not available for hire include: guitar, piano, keyboard and drums.
Practising
Students should be encouraged to practice daily, for a minimum of 10 minutes, even on the weekends. Care should be taken to clean the instrument after each practice session. Please let Mrs Mee know if your instrument is missing a cleaning cloth, polishing cloth, valve oil, cork grease, or a swab. Ask the tutor to demonstrate how to clean the instrument.
Problems with an instrument
Please email wilkins-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au ASAP and she will organise for the instrument to be repaired. Please do not try to fix instruments, it often causes more problems - just leave it to the experts!
Wilkins Music Association
Wilkins Music Association is a group of parents, carers and friends of Wilkins Public School who come together regularly with the music staff of the school with the aim of helping to promote and coordinate music within the school.
Among our activities, we assist the music teachers in planning musical performance events. These events are held not only to give all students an opportunity to perform their newly acquired musical skills, but also to help raise funds to buy new musical instruments for the school which can then be hired out to students at a reduced rate.
We also help to recruit and support parent/carer involvement, encouraging volunteers to play a role – whether small or large – in assisting the music teachers with coordinating ensembles and bringing musical events to fruition.
The Wilkins Music Association is also an invaluable resource for parents, providing opportunities to understand the school's music programs and priorities, and to share thoughts and ideas with the school about ways to ensure Wilkins Public School's music program continues to thrive.
We welcome new parents at any time. You don't need a background in music, just a desire to assist the school in realising its goals to promote music.