Dovecote has been affiliated very closely with the Nottingham Music Hub since 2008, initially playing guitar and flute.

In 2013, we applied and were accepted to the ‘In Harmony’ project, becoming a ‘Gold School’ in the process. At this point, we switched to brass, with the pupils now being offered the trumpet or trombone.

Since then, we have always been involved in everything the music service has offered.

We have sent over 100 pupils to Music Camp – a weekend-long experience at  Ilam Hall.

We have had numerous pupils joining Area Band and playing a number of concerts and events, usually 3 a year. These have taken place at the prestigious Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, the Albert Hall and Nottingham Castle.

We have also had a high number of pupils taking their grade exams. These are usually grade one, but we had 8 pupils in 2024 taking their grade 3 brass exams..all of whom passed.

We have been involved in many other projects over the years. We regularly send Year 4 pupils to the Great Orchestra Experiment.

In 2016 we took part in the ’24-hour music marathon’ and even appeared on Notts TV in the process!

On three occasions we have also taken pupils to London to play at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank. In 2014 this included a joint concert alongside members of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra.

We were also involved in the charity single ‘Every Child Wants’ back in 2016.

It is a huge testimony to our school’s level of musical involvement and passion that a number of our ex-pupils are heavily involved in RIHO (the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra), as well as the intermediate orchestra and Salsa Jazz.