Education in Music.
A Songwriting Experience in Proffesional Music Studios with Working Writers and Producers.
We bring your class into a working professional studio — the kind most children will never set foot in — to write, record and perform their own music with the people who do it for a living.
This isn't a music lesson. It's the real thing.
Pop Academy's School Studio Experience is a two-hour session that takes children completely out of the ordinary. They arrive at a working music studio in North London — the same space used by professional artists — and by the time they leave, they've written a song, recorded it, and performed it. Together.
Every child participates. No musical experience is needed. What's needed is a willingness to try something they've never done before — and by the end, most won't want to stop. The studio environment does something no classroom can. It tells children, immediately and unmistakably, that this is serious. That what they're about to do is real.
What happens across the two hours
The session is hands-on from the moment they walk through the door. Here's how it runs:
Arrival — first 15 minutes
Welcome and studio tour
Children explore the studio space — the live room, the control room, the mixing desk, the microphones. Our producers explain what everything does and play back a track so the children can hear what a professional recording sounds like on proper monitors.
15 – 55 minutes
Writing the song together
Working with our songwriters, the group writes a short original song from scratch. They choose a theme, build the words together, find a melody. Every child contributes an idea. The process is guided but the song is genuinely theirs.
55 minutes – 1 hour 30
Recording in the live room
The class steps into the live room to record. Children take turns at the microphone. They hear their own voices played back through studio speakers. For many, this is the moment that lands hardest — the instant they realise they can actually do this.
1 hour 30 – 2 hours
Playback, performance and takeaway
The finished recording is played back to the whole group. And then every child is sent a digital copy of what they made via the school— something to share with their family, something to be proud of.
What children come away with
01
Genuine confidence
Finishing something they created — and hearing it played back — builds a self-belief that sticks. Not performed confidence. Earned confidence.
02
The courage to be heard
Standing at a microphone in front of their peers — and choosing to sing — is quietly transformative for many children, especially those who hold back in class.
03
A voice in the room
Every child contributes to the song. Their line, their idea, their melody. Learning that your contribution matters — in a group creative process — is a skill for life.
04
Creative resilience
Children learn to try something, hear it back, and make it better — the heart of any creative process, in any field.
05
Real-world context
They see how music actually gets made, from idea to finished track. It opens a door into a professional world that school alone rarely reaches.
06
Something to keep
A digital recording they made that day. Not a certificate. Not a gold star. An actual piece of music they can share, play to their family, and be proud of.
Why a professional studio changes everything
Most children learn about music at school. A few learn to play an instrument. Almost none will ever make music in a professional studio — the kind where albums are recorded, where the acoustics are engineered, where the equipment costs more than a family car.
That environment does something to a child. It says: this is the real world. You are in it. And what you're about to do here is exactly what the people you listen to on Spotify do. That context is not something you can fake in a classroom or a school hall. It has to be real to work.
Pop Academy's studio's at SAFO are used by working artists every week. When children step into it, they are not on a field trip looking through glass. They are inside it, at the microphone, in the room where music gets made. That distinction matters more than any curriculum objective.
Linked to the National Curriculum
Linked to the National Curriculum
The session maps directly to Music objectives across Key Stages 1 and 2, making it straightforward to include as a curriculum-supported activity.
- Use their voices expressively and creatively through singing and speaking
- Play and perform solo and in ensembles, communicating musical ideas to an audience
- Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes, individually and with others
- Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
- Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music
Led by people who do it for a living
Every session is run by Pop Academy's founding team — working music industry professionals who between them have written platinum-selling songs, produced chart albums, and collaborated with some of the best-known artists of the last twenty years.
They didn't drift into education. They built Pop Academy because they wanted to share what the music industry actually looks and feels like — with children who would never otherwise get near it.
What you need to know before booking
What you need to know before booking
Duration: 2 hours · Group size: Up to 24 children · Location: Pop Academy Studio, North London, near Crouch Hill
When: Weekday sessions available by arrangement. We'll work around your school timetable and term dates.
What children need to bring: Nothing. No musical experience is required. Children who already play an instrument are welcome to bring it along.
What they take away: A digital recording of the song the group made that day — shared with the school to pass on to families.
Pricing: £20 per child. MInimum Group 15 Children,
Ready to bring your class in?
Get in touch and we'll arrange a conversation with whoever looks after music at your school.
020 7683 3333
www.popacademy.co.uk