Connecting Trinity exams and Progress 8: how Chiswick School increased Key Stage 4 music engagement

BY: Guest Writer
22 July 2026

We’ve seen the figures, news articles and social media threads: the number of students continuing to study music at Key Stage 4 and beyond is declining. Debates about the impact of school performance measures, funding, and the relevance and accessibility of GCSE and A Level Music are both necessary and ongoing. At Chiswick School, however, staff have taken a different approach to encouraging students to continue their musical learning alongside their GCSE studies. Director of Music, Zac Moxon explains how he used the Progress 8 points available for graded music examinations to establish the school’s ‘Grade 6 Scheme’.

In the late spring and summer terms, there is a lot on our plates as music teachers: coursework marking, GCSE and A Level exams, summer concerts, musicals, final recitals and trips, but lurking beneath these lies a small but equally important event: Year 9 GCSE Options Evening.

Cue the department displays being rolled out for another year, Year 10s staying behind as subject ambassadors to wax lyrical about Music. Cue scores of anxious Year 9s with the same questions every year: ‘I’ve heard it’s hard; is it hard?', ‘I like the performing, but the theory scares me’, or, conversely, ‘I like listening to music, but I don’t think I’ll be good enough on my instrument’, to which we eagerly reply: ‘It’s really not that bad; you’ll be fine; you’ll get there’.

Every year, as music teachers, we fight for our survival. If there's not enough sign up, senior leaders come knocking at our door, announcing that there weren’t enough numbers for GCSE next year. With KS4 reductions inevitably come budgetary and staffing reductions, as well as our cherished orchestras, bands and choirs gradually shrinking.

Music GCSE is hard. You have to be proficient at three disciplines that are quite different from each other: performing, composing and appraising. Very rarely do I get a student who is excelling in all three areas; being a good singer does not guarantee an ability to write a good song; being able to spot an interval correctly does not mean you have the ability to perform a piece at a Grade 3+ standard with good expression and intonation. Music has been consistently behind in GCSE numbers compared to other non-EBacc subjects, with at least 10,000 fewer entries than Drama, Food Preparation and Nutrition, PE, Art, and DT. But Music is not bereft of funding, with much more money going into co-curricular musical opportunities than most other subjects. Yes, there have been cuts, but we still have a wealth of Music Education Hubs, charities, community music groups and other organisations ensuring that every child has the opportunity to get involved in music. Why is that not translating into KS4 numbers?

In November last year, I discovered on the Trinity College London website that all Grade 6-8 music qualifications count on UK schools’ KS4 performance data (Progress 8 and Attainment 8). Here are the rules:

All performance grades count as one full GCSE (in the same way that vocational qualifications have GCSE conversion rates)

A student is allowed one practical qualification and one theory qualification:

Grades 6 & 7

Pass = 7

Merit & Distinction = 8.5

Grade 8

Grade 8 Pass, Merit & Distinction = 8.5

Theory

All of the points apply as above, but Grade 6 is only worth 0.8 of a GCSE.

I found this very intriguing: these are qualifications that are much more focussed and specialised, allowing students to excel at what they’re good at. What if we rolled this out formally at KS4? I showed our Headteacher the proof from the DfE website: it was true. She immediately agreed to fund all Year 11s who wished to take the qualifications.

How we implemented this at Chiswick School

In April this year our school published our GCSE Options booklet. We had our standard GCSE Music page, but we also had a separate page entitled ‘The Grade 6 Scheme’.

In the Grade 6 Scheme, they can sign up to do either a Grade 6 practical or theory exam, or both. It doesn’t take up a traditional option block, the practical is covered in their 1-2-1 music lessons (the school covering the cost for any parent who couldn’t afford), and the theory class was run similarly but for a whole class (we have 14 this year) for 20 minutes a week on rotation (like normal 1-2-1 music lessons) taught by myself.

Now students could sign up for any 1, 2, or all 3 of these qualifications.

23 signed up for GCSE Music (we’re a fairly large school with 240 per year). But 47 signed up for the Grade 6 Scheme! That means a total of 70 GCSE or equivalent qualifications that the Music Department will be responsible for.

Why was the Grade 6 scheme more popular? These were some responses:

‘I love singing, but composition doesn’t really interest me’

‘I like music, but I also wanted to do triple science and PE’

‘These grades allow me to take a qualification that suits what I’m actually interested in’

But how many students can actually reach Grade 6 by year 11? This is where Trinity was very helpful.

All of Trinity’s digital exams count in GCSE league tables alongside the face-to-face exams. One of our pianists feels he couldn’t get the in-person Grade 6 done but could definitely do the digital version. Similarly, over two thirds of those on the scheme will be on the Trinity Rock & Pop syllabus as it’s really inclusively designed and allows a much wider range of students to get involved.

Those in our Trinity Grade 6 Theory class are also thriving; 20 mins a week for two years allows us to slow down and cover melody writing, scales, chords, intervals. For many of them who also do GCSE Music, it means the composition and appraising components have been much easier - they can actually write half-decent music entirely by themselves.

This is not to say that GCSE Music is dead - far from it. For many students, Grade 6 is too much for them, but this is where GCSE is rightly good at helping all students to reach a competent standard in understanding, composing and performing Music. What the Grade 6 Scheme does is allow that net to be cast even wider to those who simply love performing and want to be recognised for it, while also allowing the highest achievers to add an extra qualification or two to their portfolio, and ultimately help them feel more prepared for Music at A Level and beyond.

KS4 uptake for music is not where it should be, but we also have more choice of qualifications at KS4 than any other subject. Using Grade 6-8 exams to complement our GCSE/BTEC qualifications could be transformational for students, music departments and schools across the country.

I’m interested in doing this, what should I do now?

Speak to your data manager at school to get the qualifications logged on your school system.
Let Trinity and other exam boards know which student’s entries you hope to use for Progress 8 scores, including their Unique Learner Number (ULN). You can do this by simply inputting each student’s ULN when you book the exam, and the Trinity Support Team can also help with any questions.

Zac Moxon has been Director of Music at Chiswick School, an academy in West London since 2021. You can contact him at dofmus@chiswickschool.org