Music

We value music highly at St Thomas’. We know its importance to every person and its place in all human cultures. Music and singing are also our extension of praise and prayer to God. Our music curriculum is here to help every pupil develop their musicianship skills to become more confident, more engaged, more appreciative and gain even more enjoyment from music.

Music curriculum lessons are based on the aims of the Music National Curriculum and are planned and taught by music specialist in conjunction with the class teacher. Each class has a weekly music lesson which has strong links to other learning and subject topics, where appropriate, and most importantly helps to progress their musical skills through the following strands; performing with singing and instruments, composing and improvising, evaluating, building aural and theoretical knowledge and developing cultural and personal skills. Formative assessments are made against the skills and tracked to see progression. Children have valuable opportunities to evaluate their own and others’ musical work and listen back to their recordings for details.

Singing is celebrated in our school and practiced and performed as an integral part of curriculum music lessons, whole school assemblies and events for worship. All Year 4 children are given the opportunity to learn ukulele as a whole class, with free ukuleles and resources provided for them. Music learning also takes place in each year group using body percussion, a wide range of classroom instruments, djembe drums, samba percussion, keyboards and technology. Many Key Stage 2 children also choose to take extra-curricular small group or individual lessons in our school on recorder, flute, clarinet, saxophone, piano, guitar, violin and cello.

Our lunchtime choir groups are popular, with children enjoying learning songs for Young Voices and Singup. Children who play an instrument can also join before or after-school orchestra and ukulele clubs.  We encourage our children to get involved in local community music ensembles and put children forward to join wider orchestral or singing workshops. At St Thomas’ the children in all classes experience the joy of watching visiting musicians or going to Kidenza orchestra concerts. They gain confidence to perform to audiences on their own or with others, through many events in a typical year; music assemblies, church services, concerts in school and large music venues and to elderly residents in our local community.

Our progression of skills lead children directly into musical learning ready for secondary education and beyond. Life-long skills of appreciation for a wide range of musical styles and composers, connections which make sense to learning in other topics, regular use of music vocabulary and theory, all help prepare children to engage deeper when participating as an audience to music or as a performer. St Thomas’ children learn from an early age the value of music in our worship to God. Our Mission Statement: Learning in the Light of Christ, supports the children to understand the importance of  the boost to their mental health, which enjoyment through listening and expressing themselves through singing and playing, gives them. All elements link together to help pupils feel prepared to become musicians with musical understanding.

As pupils progress, they will develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and appreciate a wide range of music from their own cultural heritage and from other cultures. Experiencing a range of music develops children’s wellbeing and we therefore strive for all children to have access to a range of musical opportunities.