Music
At Haddenham Community Junior School we recognise that music education can enrich every part of our pupils’ lives. Good music education can improve language and memory, help develop co-ordination and motor skills, refine pattern recognition, enhance creativity and imagination and give children a chance to express themselves and release emotions in a way that is unique to the subject.
All children take part in regular music lessons which include cross-curricular music making and appreciation (learning pirate songs in Year 3, listening to Holst’s ‘Planets’ as part of the ‘Space’ topic in Year 5), and lessons based on the ‘Sparkyard’ curriculum. Across the four year groups children take part in whole class sessions to learn basic glockenspiel, African drumming and ukulele. Children listen to the music of significant composers from history as they enter and leave the hall for assembly. They also take part in whole school singing assemblies. There are opportunities for children to perform both inside and outside school at Harvest, Christmas and in the Year 6 end of year production. The school regularly takes part in ‘Young Voices’ – arena performances involving thousands of primary school children singing together.
A wide range of individual and small group music lessons are available in the school including piano, guitar and drumming.
Our aims across Key Stage 2 are that children should:
- Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression.
- Use and understand staff/stave and other musical notation.
- Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music.
- Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.
- Listen with attention to detail and recall sound.
- Develop an understanding of the history of music.
