Post People Barking Abbey music teacher Lucy Sykes

Lucy Sykes, 33, from Abbey Road, Barking has been head of music at Barking Abbey School for eight years and is also the manager of local band Empty Headz, a group of five of her students. Lucy says she has found the experience of working with talented and fun-loving people inspiring and rewarding and believes that hard work and high expectations will help young people achieve their best.

I started playing the piano when I was seven and then took up the clarinet when I joined Barking Abbey secondary school.

As a young person I took part in many concerts and performances and went on several music tours with the Barking and Dagenham wind band.

These experiences confirmed my love of music and made me realise that I wanted to offer young people similar opportunities.

In 1996 I left the borough to take up a place at university to study for a music degree followed by a PGCE at the Institute of Education before taking up my first teaching post at Hampton Community College in Surrey.

In September 2001 I returned to Barking and Dagenham to take a job as second in department at Barking Abbey School.

After one year I became head of department and decided to go about establishing a strong music tradition where all pupils would be given the opportunity to be involved in the best that music has to offer.

Although on an individual basis music can be extremely hard work it can also be enormously rewarding and can teach young people invaluable skills including teamwork, commitment, responsibility and reliability.

Over the past eight years hundreds of pupils have taken part in many musical activities, including tours to Spain, Italy, Prague, Germany and Holland; themed concerts such as Last Night of the Proms, Big band Nights and a Night At The Movies; musical productions such as Les Miserables, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Copacabana, Bugsy Malone and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Musical Adventure.

From these experiences many former pupils have gone on to study music, music technology or performing arts at university, with two pupils going on to study at prestigious London music colleges.

One young man who was a scene shifter during My Fair Lady enjoyed the experience so much that he chose to make a career out of it and now works on The Lion King in the West End.

One of my finest moments as a music teacher came last July when the school band the MT-Hedz performed at the O2 arena in the final of the Blastbeat Battle of the Bands competition.

After an outstandingly confident and musically perfect performance they were crowned winners!

Over the last year I’ve been working as their manager and the band, now known as the Empty Headz, have continued to progress and have played at many local venues, including the Dagenham Town Show, as well as many London venues such as the legendary 100 club and the Camden Barfly.

Working with the young people of Barking Abbey School has been great fun and helps keep me young and I look forward to continuing the strong tradition that the department has established.