The lights are dim and the music loud. This week, year 9 student Kaydan Morrison is moonlighting as DJ Hotstuff, half of supergroup Player$ Club. He enters the room throwing plastic money.

Teachers, support staff and students dance to pop music, including crowd pleaser Friends by Justin Bieber.

"It was nerve-racking," Kaydan said, debriefing after his first ever performance.

"Now I'm feeling amazing."

Party Down Productions' weekly discos are a popular fixture on the specialist school's calendar.

Woden School youth worker Luke Ferguson started coordinating the events after watching students rush to YouTube to listen to music every time they were online. Now he's grappling with a 10-week wait list of students keen to show their DJ skills to the school community.

Each week Mr Ferguson works with two students on designing a set list and poster around a theme of their choosing.

Kaydan's poster positioned he and Tallara Williams (or DJ Talla-raver) in front of a yellow Lamborghini. Other weeks have centred on country music, '80s hits and pop.

The weekly parties have become so popular nearby schools have started enlisting Party Down Productions to hold similar events on their campuses.

"Music is such a great way of connecting with kids and students and it's pretty powerful because it's something where you either like the song or you don't," Mr Ferguson said.

"The best thing about it is seeing some of the students get a chance to express themselves that they may not normally get. I'm constantly surprised, every week you'll be surprised.

"One of our shy students, one of the juniors, killed it last week. He was working the crowd, he was singing along karaoke and getting everyone up and dancing. A teacher of his who taught him in primary school came along for the day and she was just blown away."

It's not Mr Ferguson's first foray into the music world. He has recorded children's music with his son, Elliot, after noticing a gap in what was on offer for children who had outgrown The Wiggles but weren't quite ready for top 40 hits.

The success of Battlebird inspired him to switch from working in retail to working with children - and it's paid off.

Mr Ferguson was recognised for his work at the Education Directorate's public education awards with the gong for the education support person of the year.

As well as running Party Down Productions, Mr Ferguson has opened a music studio for students of the Woden School.

"When the opportunity came to do this it was like I've got to just run with this and have fun, and that's the key," he said.

"The two key things I keep reminding myself are to make it fun and to get silly with the kids."