Music at Lea

Our music champion is: Miss Cottam

At Lea, we are musicians! We provide children with a high-quality music education which inspires creativity, imagination and allows our children to discover themselves. We aim to provide opportunities for self-expression, creativity, confidence and joy whilst making music.  Our approach is inclusive and empathetic, reflecting the different cultural and religious backgrounds of our students. We ensure that students have access to a variety of musical instruments, equipment, and technology to enhance their learning and that all students have the opportunity to participate in musical performances and events.

We pride ourselves in giving our children opportunities to appreciate and understand the arts. We regularly provide children with the opportunity to perform to an audience, both in and out of school. We also provide regular opportunities for our children to listen to live and recorded music.  Our commitment to children’s musical development helps our children to discover themselves as musicians and promotes a lifelong love of music.

Singing is at the heart of our music curriculum and a huge part of learning at Lea.  Research has shown that singing has a positive impact on emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. We believe in offering opportunities for all of our children to sing in all areas of the curriculum, as a daily part of school life and in the wider community. Each week, our children have Key Stage singing practices to develop our skills, knowledge and confidence in singing together as a school community.

Implementation

Our implementation of the Music curriculum centres around three key principles: breadth, balance, and progression. Our music curriculum is carefully sequenced from the Early Years and uses the National Curriculum and Early Years Framework as its starting point. This is supported by the fantastic KAPOW primary scheme. All children in our school learn the substantive knowledge of the inter-related dimensions of music. This solid understanding allows children apply their knowledge of the inter-related dimensions of music and apply this to procedural knowledge in the areas of performing, composition and listening.

Music is taught for at least 45 minutes each week, alongside a 30-minute singing practice to develop our children’s ability to sing, using their voices with increasing accuracy in an ensemble. As part of our curriculum, all children in KS2 learn how to play the ukulele.  As part of our extra-curricular offer, music learning from the classroom is extended to our clubs.

Teachers are equipped with the knowledge of what children have previously been taught and what will be taught in the future. They understand what core knowledge children need to acquire and ensure they teach hinterland knowledge by listening to a wide range of genres that inspire curiosity throughout the curriculum.