Burnside High School has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in Music.

A wide range of optional music courses are available at every level, and the co-curricular music programme is large and diverse with an emphasis on achieving the very highest possible musical standard.  Outstanding success is regularly seen in competitions and festivals such as The Big Sing, New Zealand School of Music Jazz Festival, JazzQuest, Christchurch Concert Band Festival, Rockquest, Pacific Beats, The Voices Festival and the NZCT Schools' Chamber Music Contest.

Each year many Burnside High School musicians are successful in auditioning for national selected groups such as the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, New Zealand Secondary Schools' Choir, New Zealand Youth Choir and New Zealand Secondary Schools' Symphony Orchestra.

Specialist Music Programme (SMP)

The SMP is designed to cater for students with considerable experience and talent as musicians.  The programme is unique in New Zealand and offers the highest possible standard of musical education and opportunities.  SMP students maintain a focus on Music throughout their time at high school, however, they follow the same timetable and have the same subject options available to them as other students.

Admittance to the SMP is by audition and is open to all instruments and Voices.  Successful applicants will be placed within a 9PMU form class; please note that the SMP content is delivered separately to the curriculum through instrument-specific workshops held weekly after school.

Many SMP alumni, following further study, are now working as professional performers and composters around the world whilst others have entered professions such as Law, Medicine and Education.  Whatever career path students choose to pursue post-high school, the discipline, focus, self-management and social skills required to thrive as a musician in the SMP are vital personal qualities and life skills that universities actively seek in their applicants.  The SMP is a unique programme that above all promotes excellence in all aspects, provides a stimulating and challenging environment in which talented musicians thrive.

Further information about the SMP is available online: www.specialistmusicprogramme.co.nz.  More specific queries may be sent to Chris Petch, HOD Music: pe@burnside.school.nz

NOTE: Students who are accepted into the school's SMP do not need to live in zone to be accepted into the school.  Each year we welcome students into their SMP from within Christchurch, across wider New Zealand and from overseas.