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Curriculum

Music

Intent - The vision

Music is the universal language of mankind.  - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

At Holy Trinity Pewley Down, we believe that "every child is treasured and loved as a unique child of God" and we hope to embody this in our music curriculum. 

"A zest for learning and a love of life" is fostered through music with children viewing themselves as confident performers and composers. As well as developing themselves as musicians, they are encouraged to "imagine life in another’s footsteps" through listening and responding thoughtfully to a range of musical genres and understanding the historical context for these.

Implementation - How do we achieve our goal?

If You Can Walk You Can Dance, If You Can Talk You Can Sing. - Bruce Watson

Using the New Model Music Curriculum as a guide for the expectations in each year group, music is taught with many links made to the year group’s topics. Singing is part of the school culture, with a weekly Singsong assembly and songs used in a variety of other subjects.

Musical exploration starts at the infants with aspects of listening, performing and composing, whilst developing musical understanding alongside. Through songs related to their topics and music from different traditions, the children learn to sing together, develop a sense of rhythm and pulse and explore the different timbres of a range of percussion instruments. Using the music garden, the children also experiment with a range of sounds in composition.

Music at the juniors is taught by music specialists as part of the PPA Arts Carousel. During their music lessons, children will cover all aspects of music: listening and appraising, musicianship, composing and performing. The skills learnt each year are built on by increasing the complexity of musical theory and performance. To offer a range of experiences for the children, they are given the opportunity to learn to play a range of instruments as part of their class teaching. Year 3 learn recorder, Year 4 glockenspiel, Year 5 Ukulele and Year 6 Samba drumming. In addition to this, Year 6 also explore digital music creation through Garageband. 

Impact - How do we know our vision has come to fruition?

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music. - Billy Joel

At the end of Key Stage 1, children should have had a wide range of musical experiences covering these key areas:

  • Singing
  • Listening
  • Composing
  • Musicianship: Pulse/Beat, Rhythm, Pitch

We foster an enjoyment of music, the joy of singing together and the shared language that we can all understand.

By the end of Key Stage 2, children will have continued their musical journey to further advance and develop their skills in:

  • Singing
  • Listening
  • Composing: Improvisation, Composition, Performing

As well as being able to recognise treble clef musical notation, they should be able to sing with control and to perform with a sense of rhythm, pulse and pitch. 

As they leave HTPD, they will be ready to embrace their future musical teaching with hope and confidence. This confidence will enable them to perform, create and discuss music, be open to listening to a wide range of music with an understanding of different cultures, traditions and opinions.

Extra-Curricular Music

At HTPD, we celebrate all children’s individual talents and interests. To foster this, we have a wide range of musical opportunities available to the children beyond the classroom teaching.

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Peripatetic Lessons

For children wishing to learn to play a musical instrument, we have a wide range of opportunities in school for children to have 1:1 or small group lessons. For further information about these, please follow the links below. We have some instruments available for children to borrow. If your child would like to learn an instrument, but you need support with the cost of lessons, please contact the school.

Infants

Juniors

Clubs

The following teacher-led clubs are available for all children, with opportunities to perform throughout the year:

Whole School Plays

The infants have a Nativity Show, with the whole school participating; singing and dancing, while Year 2 has the opportunity to take the lead roles. As the children start at the juniors in Year 3, one of their first opportunities is to put on a performance within the first term for parents to enjoy. In addition, the Juniors put on a Christmas show each year, with each year group performing a song and Year 6 children taking responsibility for the speaking parts, sound, lighting and props.

Connections with the community

Children at the juniors have the opportunity to participate in the Guildford Primary Schools Music Festival, performing in a massed choir and orchestra at G Live alongside the other Guildford primary schools.

The choirs and orchestra are always keen to perform at whole school events and open days, as well as visiting our local community to sing and play.