Music

Music at Race Leys

Reception

In Reception, Music is covered through the Early Learning Goals called ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ and ‘Being Imaginative’. This forms the foundation for later work in Music, for example, the children will be introduced to a wide variety of music and they will explore a variety of musical sound-makers. Children will also gain confidence in their own way of representing ideas, thoughts and feelings through music and dance. There is lots of singing in the reception areas and children learn rhymes and songs for fun and to support their learning.

Music in Reception:

The children have enjoyed exploring a range of musical sound-makers. They have learnt to name and hold each instrument correctly to produce musical sounds. Children in reception also enjoy performing to others. They work together at Christmas to produce a nativity concert which is shared with proud parents and carers.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1, Music is covered through the Music National Curriculum.

Pupils should be taught to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.
Pupils should be taught to play tuned and untuned instruments musically.
They should listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.
They should experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

Music in Key Stage 1:

In Year 1 and 2 Music teaching is supported by ‘Charanga’, a skill-based online resource which teaches through themed topics. Children work hard to develop their singing skills, thinking about how to use their voice confidently and expressively. Across the year, we try to incorporate songs into our daily routine which support curriculum learning. We also use the ‘Go Kids Music’ website to learn songs linked with topics and perform these to other year groups or parents at the end of each half term. These songs also have Makaton which the children learn as well.

Children learn to use their voice and body to produce sounds and begin to learn what musical notation looks like. They learn how to create simple rhythms which are put together to compose simple pieces. They are also given opportunities to use percussion instruments to add depth to music and are encouraged to play instruments sensitively with the music. They learn about pulse, rhythm, tempo and pitch as well as length of notes, volume and using sounds for effects.

Across the year, children at Race Leys Infant School are introduced to a variety of music to listen to. This covers different genres, history and styles of music and they learn about different composers through this.

There is an after school singing club run by Mr Lidbetter which takes place in the summer term and children from all year groups can attend.