Meet The Team

Tom Kirkham

Tom is a writer and musician, and the co-founder and Publishing Director of The School Musicals Company. A qualified English and Drama teacher with fifteen years’ experience, Tom is the writer of Pantastic, A-la-la-la-la-laddin, Sherlock & Cinders, Paws & Claws and It's A Census, Get Me Out Here! amongst many others. Tom loves the process of creating stories and seeing them come to life on stage or screen. He also enjoys working with other writers, composers, illustrators and designers in a publishing and editorial capacity.

Tom co-founded The School Musicals Company with Matt Crossey in 2016.

Matthew Crossey

Matt has worked in the music industry for twenty-five years. His early career was as a pop songwriter for Bryan Morrison Music Publishing, Polygram and Eaton Music and also as a touring musician in a number of bands. Matt moved in to the field of Music Publishing in his late twenties and held roles at Warner Chappell (IMP) as Marketing & Creative Manager and then for the past decade at Out of the Ark Music Ltd where he was Sales & Marketing Director. During that time Matt has continued to write music and has composed and produced songs for contemporary artists as well as having numerous songs published for the schools market by Out of The Ark Music.

Matt co-founded The School Musicals Company with Tom Kirkham in 2016.

Niki Davies

Niki Davies is the bestselling author of 'Whoops a Daisy Angel', 'The Nativity' and 'Higgledy Piggledy Nativity'. She has a degree in Music & Education and twenty years practical classroom experience. She has been a professional songwriter for twenty years and written for the BBC, Faber, Music Sales and Out of the Ark Music.

Niki's extensive experience writing for young children, alongside her many years of teaching and leading workshops, can be seen throughout her writing. Her songs are perfectly pitched, accessible and great fun to perform.

Niki is married to Andrew, has two grown-up children and lives in Yorkshire. Niki is a partner is The School Musicals Company.

Contributors

Jane Carr

Jane Carr has a wealth of experience in the field of music education, having worked with several leading children’s book publishers creating audio content for a number of their main titles. An honours graduate in music from the University of Wales and a post graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, Jane is currently Education Director of ‘FUNtastic!’ a multi-platform music-led brand for young children. Jane is also the composer of Hooray In A Manger and A Mouse In Santa's House, published by The School Musicals Company.

Emma Greenfield (formerly Davies)

Emma Greenfield (formally Davies) is a composer, musician and educator, originally from Lancaster, UK and currently based in Berlin. She has created the backing tracks for many Niki Davies musicals, including ‘Plastic Pirates’ and ‘Honky Tonky Donkey’. Emma’s wide range of musical experience includes over a decade of live performance as a singer and instrumentalist, eight years of teaching music in kindergartens (age 3-6) and writing children’s music for various projects and publishers.

John Maul

John Maul has been a professional musician for over 35 years having graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with a skill set ranging from pianist, keyboard player, musical director to composer, arranger and programmer. He has worked on TV, in the West End on many musicals and performed worldwide on stage for over 100 famous Rock and Pop artists including Kylie Minogue, Howard Jones and Rick Astley.

Mark Place

Mark Place is Director of Music at More House School in Farnham. He is an accomplished musician and experienced composer. Mark creates all of the sheet music arrangements for The School Musicals Company.

Clare Kirkham

Clare is currently Head of Junior School at Downsend School in Leatherhead, Surrey. She is an English specialist and has experience of putting on numerous school musicals and nativities.

Angela Chan

Angela is a versatile composer, producer and performer based in the North of England.

During her classical music studies at University of Leeds she started exploring amplified strings and contemporary practices before going on to complete a Masters in Music Production at Leeds Beckett University. Angela works with various artists touring and recording as a session musician as well as writing and releasing music with her own bands (Lanterns on the Lake, Tomorrow We Sail, Hello Cosmos). Alongside her performance work, she produces music and sound design for theatre, moving image and creative installations.