Curriculum Music is good in our school when…
| Performing: – Children use their voices expressively, creatively and throughout the school day. – Children play tuned and untuned instruments musically and expressively. – Children have the opportunity to perform in small and large groups, within school and out of school. | Listening: – Children have the opportunity to listen to a range of music from different times and places. – Children can pick out different dimensions of music, e.g. pulse, pitch, rhythm. – There will be opportunities for musicians to visit school and for classes to go to community music events. | Composing: -Children experiment with sounds, both with instruments and through computing apps. – Children learn how to use symbols and musical notation. |
| So that … | ||
| – They become more confident at performing throughout their time at our school. – They are inspired to learn and achieve highly. – They use music to help learn concepts (e.g. water cycle) and vocabulary (e.g. Spanish greetings). – They independently use music to improve their mood and as a way to express their creativity. |
| Extra-curricular Music is good in our school when… | |
| Instrumental: – A wide-range of instrument tuition is offered to Juniors. – Those children receiving Free School Meals can get a discount on instrument tuition costs. – Instrumentalists regularly perform to their parents and the school. | Junior Choir: – After a low-key audition, all Juniors have the chance to join Junior Choir. – Choir regularly lead whole-school assemblies (e.g. World Peace Day, Sing Up Day) and sing at community events. – Choir members are encouraged to help their class teachers lead singing within their classes, and to lead clapping games on the playground. |
At Poringland, we use Charanga to support our music teaching. This is an online music scheme with lots of interactive resources and high quality music to support our children’s musical learning. The BBC Ten Pieces often link to topics. The children enjoy using the class sets of glockenspiels, Boomwhackers, percussion instruments, ukuleles, body percussion and on-line apps to take part practically in music lessons.
Please click on the link below to see how the knowledge and skills of music is built on year on year:
Children in Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 take part in performances at Christmas that interweave songs with the spoken word. In 2020 this was put together virtually.
Infants and Juniors normally visit Poringland Parish Church at Christmas and Easter, where they take part in religious activities and songs.
Year 6 children usually perform an end of year show, which recently has been a dramatic and musical performance.
Year 6 children regularly participate in the annual CASMA concerts, organised by the Norfolk Music Hub. These provide an opportunity to sing with other schools. We have also taken part in Infant CASMA with Year 2.
Juniors can audition for Junior Choir, which regularly leads whole-school assemblies and takes part in activities within the community, for example: singing at Christmas at Stoke Holy Cross Dementia Group and at the Emergency Services Carol Concert in St Peter Mancroft church.
In 2020-21 Junior Choir members have been meeting via Zoom. In fact, this is the only cross-bubble activity children are able to take part in during the pandemic. At Christmas, they released a video and audio recording of What Christmas Means to Me to raise money for EACH.
Poringland Primary has twice taken part in the Young Voices concerts, held at the O2 arena in London. These are fantastic opportunities to sing with other schools and to also be uplifted by the power of music.
We regularly participate in Sing Up Day and Norfolk Music Hub’s Virtual Big Sings.
Sometimes there is an after school Infant choir for children and their carers.
Since 2019 all Year 4 children had the opportunity to learn the ukulele with the Norfolk Music Hub and in 2020-21 school have funded this tuition to last all year. All Juniors have the opportunity to pay for instrument tuition. Currently we offer piano, keyboard, violin, trumpet, flute, clarinet, saxophone, guitar and ukulele and there are reductions in fees available for LAC and those receiving FSMs.
A lunchtime School band has been run weekly by one of the peripatetic teachers.
There has been an after school Samba Band for Juniors led by Jon Cann.
Instrumentalists and choir perform together for parents at our annual Summer Concert, held virtually or at Framingham Earl High School.
We also invite musicians into school to widen the children’s musical experiences. In 2019 Lauren Talford led workshops introducing woodwind instruments.
