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BBC at East Bank: Schools Programme

BBC Music Studios will be moving to the East Bank on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, where they will rehearse, record, perform and broadcast a diverse mix of music, delighting audiences with the sounds they love across the musical spectrum.

Comprising of BBC Music Studios; UAL: London College of Fashion; Sadler’s Wells East; UCL East (University College London) and V&A East, East Bank is the place where everything happens – entertainment, inspiration and discovery – and is open to everyone who visits, lives and works in east London.

The BBC’s East Bank Programme, as part of East Ed, supports music making across the four Olympic boroughs (Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets) through teacher CPD, schools concerts and workshops and collaborations with partner schools.

Upcoming Activity:

  • Schools concerts for Key Stage 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra will take place in April 2026 at Hackney Empire
  • Termly Meet a Musician workshops continue with schools across East London - inspiring workshops with musicians from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers

To find out more email [email protected]

Teaching resources available to all:

  • BBC Teach

    Free classroom resources for primary and secondary school teachers. BBC Teach is home to thousands of free curriculum-mapped classroom videos, arranged by age-group and subject.

  • BBC Ten Pieces

    Open up the world of classical music to 7-14 year olds with exciting films, lesson plans and instrumental arrangements.

  • BBC Young Composer

    BBC Young Composer is home to a wealth of composition resources for both teachers and young people with the hope of inspiring more young people to get creative with music and consider a career in the music industry.

2023: BBC Singers and school choirs perform to Gaia at UCL East

BBC Singers and school choirs perform to Gaia at UCL East

BBC Singers & children from 3 East London partner schools perform to Gaia at UCL East.

BBC and UCL are partners in East Bank, the UK’s newest cultural quarter at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In the lead up to the opening of the BBC’s new music studio, the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra are collaborating with three east London schools, Bobby Moore Academy, Hillyfield Primary Academy and St Winefride’s Catholic Primary School, exploring music-making in these communities.

On Friday 6 October 2023 around 100 children from these schools performed with the BBC Singers in a celebration of planet Earth at the UCL East Marshgate building. The backdrop for the performance, entitled Earth, Air and Moon, was the magnificent 8-meter wide Gaia globe artwork by Luke Jerram that gently spins in the building’s vast atrium. This BBC and UCL event marks the first of many exciting collaborations.

Conductor Nicholas Chalmers
Choir BBC Singers
piano Harry Baker
double bass Jonny Wickham