About

My name is Liz Gleed (nee Oliver) and I qualified as a secondary music in 2001. I completed my BMus at Cardiff University followed by a PGCE at Bath Spa University. During my career I have worked at four very different secondary schools. I spent my early career working in two secondary schools in Reading, followed by five years at Matravers School, a specialist 11-18 arts college in Wiltshire.

In 2011 I started working as Head of Music at Bristol Cathedral Choir School, a music specialism academy in the centre of Bristol and the first choir school in the country to switch to an academy. The school is now part of the newly formed trust Amplify Education. The department is a busy one with strong uptake for GCSE and A Level Music and a very large co-curricular programme. We teach GCSE and A Level Music currently. It is an exciting inner city centre school, as such we serve a diverse and vibrant community along with the addition of the cathedral choristers and music specialists. We have a fantastic team of specialist peripatetic staff and four members of the core department team.

Over the years I have become increasingly active online and my classroom practice has benefitted hugely from networking with other practitioners. I love the role of Head of Music and it never fails to engage and excite me. I particularly interested in curriculum design and am currently thinking a lot about the decolonisation of the music curriculum. In September 2024, I took on the role of Secondary Music Subject Lead with Five Counties SCITT, working in collaboration with Amplify Education and Bristol Beacon. I am deeply committed to creating and championing musical experiences for young people that reflect both the breadth and depth of what music has to offer. Delivering high-quality music education begins with developing a skilled, confident and musically informed workforce, empowering teachers to craft meaningful experiences and advocate passionately for their subject.

Thoughts (very!) sporadically shared here on mymusicclassroom.com
This blog is a place for me to share some ideas and reflections on what I do on a day to day basis in the hope that it allows me to continue to grow, to have a voice in the music education field and to continue to love what I do.