Music
Music Intent
Music is for every child and we want all children at St Gregory’s to feel that they are a musician. We want all children to be exposed to the power of music through engaging lessons and extra-curricular opportunities. Every child deserves the opportunity to engage with music of all styles and from all cultures, to develop their own musical journey. Our curriculum is designed in a way that children be immersed in music-making activities that deepen over the course of their seven years at our school.
We echo the aims of the National Curriculum that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
Our aims for Music at St Gregory’s:
- Children will perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
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Children will learn about and deepen their musical understanding and connect this with their place in their community.
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That children will understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
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Songs and singing lie at the heart of the learning process.
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An authentic musical experience is at the heart of musical learning.
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At each age and stage of development, musical learning is drawn from engaging with the
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songs in each unit.
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Music is fun, modern, inclusive and engaging.
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The children will understand and connect with different styles of music from various cultures, particularly where cultures intersect.
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Children will gain an understanding of historical and cultural contexts related to music.
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Children will form their own musical opinions and learn to make their own musical decisions.
Choir club 3:15 - 4:15 every Thursday lead by Mr Gilbert for all KS2 children.
If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument in school contact: info@rockonmusicacademy.com
Implementation
Within Music we appreciate that most teachers are not musical experts and the school subscribe to a range of teaching resources to support pedagogy. We also link to Kent Music school for support with instrument-specific tuition and many of our pupils engage with additional lessons.
We follow the National Curriculum.
In order to ensure a good level of implementation, staff are supported through verbal discussions to help them use the appropriate schemes of work; this helps guarantee a good music curriculum is being taught throughout the school. The music coverage is routinely reviewed within school to develop staff understanding and knowledge. Our staff teach lessons using the national curriculum and our music scheme to make sure children progress and learn musical knowledge which is then shown within the work they produce. Music is taught as a discrete subject and is also incorporated into other subject areas to aid learning.
Our Music Scheme ensures that skills are taught in order, developing throughout the year groups, and are revisited and embedded throughout every year; each term’s lessons work through each of the key musical concepts. In addition to this, children have access to learn different musical instruments including xylophone, glockenspiel, recorder and guitar. The music curriculum is accessible for all children across the school. Many children with SEND, notably those with learning or behavioural difficulties, may be very responsive to music and it allows them a language through which to make sense of their emotions. Skills are built upon each lesson so children have the opportunity to experience the key concepts. We liaise with other schools in the Trust to share and receive ideas that would benefit the teaching and learning in the school.
Each Unit of Work with out units comprises the of strands of musical learning which correspond with the national curriculum for music
1. Listening and Appraising
2. Musical Activities
- a. Warm-up Games
- b. Optional Flexible Games
- c. Singing
- d. Playing instruments
- e. Improvisation
- f. Composition
3. Performing
Weekly singing assembliesEveryone sings at St Gregory's. We have weekly singing assemblies which are an opportunity to appreciate the value and joy of collective singing as well as developing singing skills and part singing. Songs are selected for their musical value and their differing aspects of tone and harmony as well as linking in with our school values and assembly themes.
Community and Cultural Links
Throughout the school year two local brass bands to perform to the children to celebrate activities in school and within the community. Children have the opportunity to participate in church concerts when the opportunities arise and we constantly strive to give the children new experiences through other mediums of music and organisations that visit the area. We are regular performers at local old people's homes for Christmas and wartime remembrance celebrations
Impact
Children will:
- enjoy and appreciate a wide variety of musical styles;
- explore how sounds are made, and how music is produced by a variety of instruments;
- develop imagination and creativity;
- build a sense of pulse and rhythm;
- understand a range of musical vocabulary;
- know how to play some notes on differing instruments
- develop the interrelated skills of composition, improvisation, performance and appreciation;
- enjoy a wide range of songs and sing in tune;
- develop positive attitudes and to experience success and satisfaction in music
St Gregory's Choir on TOUR!
St Gregory's Choir performed four concerts in the space of two weeks.The 'tour' started Alexandria Homes in Margate which has become a yearly repeat booking for the children. Then, the children were invited to return to Margate QEQM where they toured the hallways and wards spreading Christmas joy singing a variety of carols. They also performed as part of a St Austin and St Gregory's Christmas Carol concert at the St Austin church. The tour culminated in a performance at Oyster Care home in Broadstairs.
The choir at St Gregory's has become very popular and has grown in numbers upwards of 25 children!
St Gregory's Band take to the stage!
St Gregory's very own house band 'The Songbirds' took to the stage to perform two songs to all the children. They performed 'Songbird' by Oasis and 'Sunflower' by Post Malone to a rousing applause from the audience.
KS2 Singing concert
