Patrick Allen (born 17 October 1955) is the English author of Singing Matters (Heinemann publishers), which won the Times Educational Supplement Schoolbook Award in 1999. He also won The Guardian Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School in 2004 and the NUT Teacher Award for "inspirational leadership of a music group" at the 2015 National Festival of Music for Youth. Until July 2015, he worked as an Advanced Skills Teacher , based at Ifield Community College in Crawley, England where he was also Head of Music and Chair of Arts. He was awarded Advanced Skills Teacher status in 2001. Allen is a UK judge for the Teaching Awards, a music education consultant and a PhD research student at SOAS Early career Patrick Allen studied French, Music and English at three Universities (Leeds, Sussex and Strasbourg), and he began his career as a teacher of English and Drama. He switched to music teaching following MA studies at Sussex University. His practical, hands-on approach to music proved popular with students and word of his success with classes and performing ensembles led to approaches from publishers in the 1990s. Publications Singing Matters (Heinemann 1997) was widely acclaimed in the educational and academic press and remains a very popular text and teaching tool with music educators in the United Kingdom and beyond. Allen's subsequent Heinemann publications, Developing Singing Matters (1999) and Composing Matters (2002) are also widely used in schools and provide a practical and inclusive repertoire of activities for secondary pupils. Allen also contributes to educational journals, and was a co-author of Music Suite, an interactive CD-ROM published by On-Line Classics (2004). Outreach work His work as an Advanced Skills Teacher and his consultancy work have seen him provide support and training since 1998 for local education authorities and universities across the United Kingdom the National Association of Music Educators, The Scottish Association for Music Education, The Halle Orchestra, the Department for Education and Skills and a range of private training providers. Ifield Community College Choir Patrick Allen has been the director and conductor of this youth choir based at Ifield Community College since 1987. As well as being seven times regional winners and national finalists in the National Festival of Music for Youth, the choir was one of two choirs selected by the BBC in 2011 to represent the UK in the international Let the Peoples Sing choral festival.