Music is central to the creative life of our school. Weekly class music lessons start from Foundation and are a key part of our curriculum. Music lessons are rooted in knowledge with a strong emphasis on performance. From Foundation through to Year 6, music lessons are designed to nurture and challenge all our children to become accomplished young musicians, sharing their achievements through regular individual and group performances.
Our curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations, teaching children to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities.
Pupils develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Through music, our curriculum helps children develop transferable skills such as team-working, leadership, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and presentation and performance skills. These skills are vital to children’s development as learners and have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond school.
Opportunities for pupils to explore diverse cultures through music are an integral part of our curriculum and pupils are encouraged to revisit and build upon knowledge learnt within subjects like art and religious education (RE) when discussing musical periods in history and influences.
Each week, our pupils participate in vibrant singing assemblies where they develop a range of voice and performance skills. Singing from an established repertoire, children explore a broad and diverse range of songs and compositions that compliment their wider creative curriculum.
In addition to weekly class music lessons, our pupils are invited to join a wealth of extra curricular activities that we offer including choral groups, rock bands and individual lessons in violin, guitar and keyboard. Our curriculum is deliberately ambitious with the hope that it inspires our pupils to develop a life long love for such an important art form whilst also providing them with the specific knowledge and skills required to study music at a higher level.