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This Week’s Songs of the Week:
Each morning, the classes listen to a song from our “History of Music”, they vote on it in class and then we find a school average.
This week’s votes:
Janet Jackson- Together Again 6.5/10
Blink 182- All the small things 9.5/10
George Michael- Freedom 7/10
Cascada- Everytime we touch 9/10
“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the
Lord with your heart”
Ephesians 5:19
At St Gabriel’s Primary School, we aim to engage, motivate and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
Music teaching at St Gabriel’s aims to follow the requirements of the National Curriculum for Music; through creating progressive small steps that meet the needs of all children.
Our Music curriculum intends to celebrate and recognise that each child is unique and encourages them to reach their full potential as Musicians. We look to help children become skilled, confident and creative Musicians. Alongside this, we aim to provide children with opportunities to broaden their knowledge and experiences of Music by learning about the concepts of: listening, instruments, performance and composition.
Music is an integral part of everyday life and at St Gabriel’s we strive to give children the opportunity to communicate through music, use it for expression, creativity and personal development. We also aim to reflect the culture and society we live in and link to our community values. Lessons enable children to get a wider view of the world and experience music in various forms.
Music teaching at St Gabriel’s will deliver the requirements of the National Curriculum through a topic based cycle curriculum. Teachers have lessons plans provided by the Music Lead which are progressive and will help children develop their skills and knowledge in music. The National Curriculum has been divided into smaller steps for phase (Year 1 and 2, Year 3 and 4, Year 5 and 6). Teachers link with other subjects, follow the children’s interests and use their assessment to alter planning if needed. An emphasis is placed on musical vocabulary, allowing children to talk about pieces of music using the correct terminology. Each year, the classes have 4 topics to cover that link with their topics: listening, instruments, performance and composition.
Children in Year 4 are part of the wider opportunities project where they learn either violin, viola or cello. The children are taught by professional musicians for the year and perform at termly concerts for their families and peers in school. Children are exposed to a range of live music throughout their school life, this can by attending concerts, performances in school and the theatre.
Children in Year 2 are given the opportunity to learn a tuned instrument which can then be utilised in later years for performance and composition opportunities.
Music teaching at St Gabriel’s Primary School is practical and engaging. A variety of teaching approaches and activities are provided based on teacher judgement and pupil ability. Lessons typically involve a combination of the following; games, songs, challenges, listening to music and discussing music, playing a range of musical instruments, performing back, finding the pulse and composing music using graphic and notation sheets.
Alongside our curriculum provision for music, pupils also have the opportunity to participate in additional 1:1 music teaching. Pupils are offered the opportunity to learn a musical instrument with peripatetic teachers. Our peripatetic music teaching is organised by Wigan Music Service, where lessons are provided weekly for a small set fee paid by the child’s parent or carer. A range of instruments are offered but our children frequently choose Instruments in the past have included: guitar, piano, keyboard and strings. Children are encouraged to perform when possible in school.
At St Gabriel’s, we recognise the unique needs of each child and support them in reaching their own potential. The impact of our Music curriculum is measured in the experiences, confidence and competence of our children within the subject.
If children are achieving the knowledge and skills in lessons, then they are deemed to be making good or better progress.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
Previously democratically voted songs of the week.
Spring 1 Week 6
Monday: Amazing Grace instrumental 8/10
Tuesday: Swing Lo Sweet Chariots sung by UB40 6/10
Wednesday: Take on me by AHa 9/10
Thursday: Sometimes by Britney Spears 4/10
Friday: Seven Nation Army by White Stripes 10/10
ACDC- Thunderstruck 7/10
Wicked Musical- Defying Gravity 3/10
Phil Collins- I can feel it coming in the air tonight 5/10
We have now updated our Holidays & Events section of our website for this school year.
Make sure to check it out.
Performance Measures