Taught by a specialist music teacher, high quality music lessons are given to all pupils. Lessons are planned and delivered following the National Curriculum at key stage 1 and key stage 2, and Expressive Art and Design in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Class lessons include playing percussion instruments, keyboards and singing.
Pupils are taught to read music, to play as a soloist and in ensembles. Focus is centred on creating opportunities for all pupils to ‘enjoy and achieve’. The interactive music website ‘Charanga’ is used in most music lessons and ‘Charanga Music World’ is available for all our key stage 2 pupils to access without charge at home. In addition to these lessons, clubs are held pre-school every morning and include drum, keyboard tuition and choir. Orchestral instruments and instrumental tuition are offered free of charge and children are encouraged to accelerate progress by performing in the community orchestra held at the school, in playing with a Blackpool Music Service Band and through working towards BMS medals and ABRSM exam qualifications.
Throughout the year, pupils perform on stage in several Blackpool Music Services events at locations such as the Winter Gardens and the Grand Theatre, Blackpool.
As our demographic is increasingly more diverse, music is a fantastic tool to learn various aspects of diversity. We encourage our children to share music from their own cultures, and celebrate the performance of them singing in their native languages. Children learn African drumming and pebble games, Maori stick games, the Hakka, and an Australian ‘Welcome song’. They sing a variety of multicultural songs and listen and play along to different styles, such as reggae and jazz. Our curriculum also includes questioning that challenges discrimination, such as; why there are no early female composers on our Music Timeline and do socio-economic factors have an influence on the types of music listened to, and performed?
