Intent

At Longstone CofE (VA) Primary School, music has always been a passion of the school and our overall aim in music is for our pupils to leave school with a sound understanding of appreciating, reading, performing and composing music. We aim to do this through nurturing the curiosity of music around them; igniting an interest in musical experiences and allowing their musical talents to shine.

Implementation

Here at Longstone, music is really important to us.  There are many opportunities throughout the year for our children to develop and showcase their musical experience and knowledge.

Music teaching at Longstone covers the National Curriculum through the use of Kapow. Music lessons are broken down into half-termly units, which support children to appreciate, sing, play, compose and perform different styles of music. Our weekly music lessons taught by class teachers involve tapping out rhythms; listening to and describing music from our termly composer, as well as composers that fit with particular topics; playing and performing pieces learnt on a variety of instruments and transcribing music. Children also hear and use musical vocabulary every week, so it soon becomes part of their everyday language. 

As well as weekly classroom lessons, we are extremely lucky to have a range of visiting peripatetic teachers, who help our children to learn an instrument from an early age. We also encourage individuals to perform each week in our celebration assembly. Click on the link to the left for more information.

In Lower KS2, children take part in the Wider Opportunities programme provided by the local Music Hub, which allows pupils to learn a brass instrument in a whole class setting. This leads to the opportunity to join with other schools to perform with the Hallé Orchestra.

We also believe that music is learnt and created to be performed in a variety of ways, whether that be as a class; in an assembly; on our online classroom or at a concert. Therefore, we provide various opportunities throughout the year for children to showcase their musical talents.