Successful Head of Music application letter

This letter successfully landed an interview for a Head of Music at a state school in England (The official title of the role was Curriculum Leader for Music). The school was large and there was a significant TLR attached to the role.

This letter is designed to be used for informative purposes and as a guide to the things you would be able to write and say in your own letter of application for a similar role. There may well be things you can’t take from this letter since they may not be true for you, but the spirit of this resource is very much to provide a template and an inspiration for you to write your own letter.

Just as we know it’s helpful to provide our pupils with a model for exam questions they need to answer, so too I have always found it helpful to have something to model letters of application on as an adult.

There isn’t anything within this letter which identifies the school that was being applied to, and when I mention ‘SCHOOL NAME’ in the text, it would, obviously, be wise to replace this phrasing in your letter with the school’s own name that you’re applying to. Where there is experience which has been written about which you yourself have not had, it may be worth thinking of examples from your own practice that you can write about in a similar style which match the person specification of the role you are applying for. For reference, the letter of application is two pages in length.

Thanks for taking a look and good luck in your job search - hopefully this will make the process a tiny bit less stressful :)