Music is a daily part of school life and used in many different ways such as establishing classroom routines, reflecting on our thoughts, joining  in with acts of worship, learning new facts (such as timestables) or creating a calm learning environment.

Discrete music lessons are also taught as part of our wider curriculum and cross curricular lessons providing a unique and exciting approach to learning music. We aim to ensure that all children:

• perform, listen to and review music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• 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.

During Key stage 1 Pupils are taught to:

• use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
• play tuned and untuned instruments musically
• listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music
• experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

During Key stage 2 Pupils are taught to:

• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
•  listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• use and understand staff and other musical notations
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
• develop an understanding of the history of music.

We are also very lucky to be working with Music for Schools who provide the children with opportunities to learn a musical instrument including clarinet, flute, saxophone, cornet and trumpet. The children learn in a small group environment at school and during lessons work through the Standard of Excellence band method, a series of tutor books with accompanying CDs specially geared towards group learning. The children work towards short and long-term goals, achieving merit certificates and stickers as they progress.