All students at St Mark’s, from Preschool to Year 8, receive classroom music lessons which cover a wide range of concepts and practical skills.
In addition to our classroom programme, we offer numerous co-curricular music opportunities including school choirs, bands, orchestra and itinerant music lessons. These extra curricular music activities are designed to meet the needs of those advanced students who need an in-depth extension as well as beginners on their path of discovery of music.
Year 1-4 Choir
This year all the students in Year 1-4 have come together to create a large choir. Students work on introductory and preparatory choir repertoire, and have the opportunity to perform at school events such as our annual Gift Giving service.
Location: Music Room
Day/Time: Thursday, 1:10 - 2PM
Year 5-6 Chapel Choir
A new auditioned choir of Years 5 and 6 students, and have in the past enjoyed performing at The Kids Festival choral festival in Wellington. They also perform at school assemblies as well as other traditional school events such as our annual Nine Lessons and Carol Services, Palm Sunday, and Choral Night Prayer services held at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul.
Location: Chapel
Day/Time: Wednesday, 12:10 - 12:50PM
Year 7-8 Chapel Choir
Conducted by our Director of Music, Mrs Jo Rosario, is our premier choir. It consists of auditioned students from Years 7 to 8 and performs high-calibre sacred and secular music.
Our choristers have many performance opportunities during the year, including the annual Nine Lessons and Carol Service, Palm Sunday and Evensong services held at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, the NZCF The Kids Sing Choral Festival in Wellington.
Location: Music Room
Day/Time: Friday, 12:10 - 12:50PM
Jazz Band
Our Jazz Band is an auditioned group, and selection is based on the children’ s skill and ability to perform.
The group rehearses on Wednesday before school. They perform a lot of music from the swing era, the 1920s through the 1940s, as well as more contemporary arrangements. As well as the opportunity to perform in a musical ensemble, students also have the chance of improvisational solos.
In 2025, the Jazz Band won a Gold Award at the MEFA Music Festival, the only Primary School Jazz Band to participate.
Orchestra
The school orchestra focuses on performing classical music and developing a sense of ensemble playing. Students apply their musical skills to a group setting and grow together as musicians.
The orchestra has numerous performance opportunities throughout the year. This includes school assemblies, the annual Whole School Prize Giving, and participating in the Wellington Orchestra Festival. The Orchestra rehearse Monday lunchtime in the Music Room.
Rock Band
Led by the very experienced musician and our Woodwind tutor, Aidan McCulloch, our popular school Rock Band practices together every Thursday lunchtime and plays a variety of rock and pop songs. The Rock Band regularly competes in the Goodtime Music Battle of the Bands.
Over half of our students are registered in our highly popular Itinerant Music Programme. Lessons take place during school hours by a team of highly professional musicians, many of whom play for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Itinerant music lessons are available in: piano, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, drums, voice (singing), violin, flute, trombone, guitar, double bass, bass guitar and cello.
Peter has a Bachelor of Music degree having studied performance guitar and composition at the New Zealand Conservatorium of Music.
Since graduating Peter has performed and composed for an eclectic mix of rock, jazz, latin, and classical bands and ensembles.
Guitar lessons start with note-reading and pop-song chord strumming. From there students branch out to electric-guitar riffs and solos, writing their own pop-songs or classical guitar performance.
Peter encourages his students to develop their own musical voice, focusing on the individual strengths and interests of each student.Peter's students from St Mark's have earned music scholarships and awards at secondary school, played in rock and jazz bands and gone on to study music at tertiary level.
Abe Baillie completed a BMus in Jazz Performance at New Zealand School of Music in 2022, and as of 2025 is continuing study at NZSM, working towards an Honours Degree. Abe has taught drum lessons across Wellington City, and in Lower Hutt.
Abe enjoys helping students improve their skills, while keeping lessons fun, primarily focusing on learning musical material that students choose.
Aside from teaching, Abe also loves working on performing and recording original creative music projects, and regularly plays as a side musician around Wellington.
Amanda completed her Bachelor of Music with Honours at the New Zealand School
of Music (NZSM) in Performance Piano, studying with Dr Jian Liu, graduating in
2019 after first studying with Gillian Bibby through the Conservatorium of Music,
graduating in 1995. As part of her Honours Degree at NZSM, she not only focussed
on Piano Performance but also Music Embodiment Studies with Dr Hamish Robb.
She has been teaching piano and music theory for over 25 years, from beginners
through to advanced level students. She absolutely loves to teach and develop
learning strategies for each individual child based on what their observed learning
needs and styles are.
Amanda is an Associate of the NZ Institute of Registered Music Teachers and also
has LTCL in Performance Piano. She continues to enjoy performing, especially piano
duets for lunchtime concerts, worship music with her church band, and continues to
enjoy developing her teaching knowledge and performance stills.
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, cellist Margaret Guldborg has been an
active part of the Wellington music scene since she and her family moved to New
Zealand in 2008. She regularly performs with Orchestra Wellington and local
chamber ensembles, and has also shared the stage with non-classical performers
such as Laser Kiwi, Liam Finn, and Eminem. Margaret has a busy cello studio, and is
Programme Director for Arohanui Strings, an organisation she has been with for
more than 10 years.
Before moving to New Zealand, Margaret taught and performed in Malaysia,
Denmark, and the United States. While living in Denmark she held the position of
Assistant Sub-Principal Cello in the Odense Symphony. She holds a Master of Music
Performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston and has played for such
legends as Yo-Yo Ma and Anner Bylsma.
My name is Freya Diggle and I am a violin teacher with over 16 years of experience. I am an ex St Marks student and was part of both the orchestra and choir during my time as a student here. I learnt violin from the previous St Marks violin teacher Emma Colligan. I love being able to continue being involved in the school as a violin teacher and I hope to help my students enjoy their time here as much as I did!
Instrument Hire
There is a limited stock of very high quality instruments which St Mark’s School offers rent-free for beginner students who are signed up for a full year of tuition.
The instruments available to hire are:
Instruments are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. All enquiries should be directed to Mrs Jo Rosario, Director of Music at jo.rosario@st-marks.school.nz
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