Intent

At Collis Primary School, we strive to cultivate a real enjoyment of music and aim to deliver high quality music teaching, supporting and encouraging all children to achieve their full potential.  Through Music at Collis, we aim to foster a love and understanding of music through active involvement in listening, appraising, composing and performing. We strive to enable children’s personal expression, reflection and emotional development through music making, both individually and together and promote the understanding and appreciation of the richness and diversity of world cultures, styles, times and periods.

Collis holds music in high regard and the range of additional musical opportunities in which the pupils can be involved reflects this:

- A range of peripatetic music tuition is on offer provided by the Richmond Music Trust.

- All children take part in whole school singing.

- All children will learn to play a musical instrument.

- All Children will have the opportunity to attend a musical performance or workshop at school or                 externally.

We encourage opportunities to perform individually and in groups to the school and the wider community. For example, the annual Year 3 trip to Elleray Hall gives the children the opportunity to sing to and meet elderly people in the local day centre. The Years 5and 6 carol concert takes place at St Mary with St Albans at which all children who are learning a musical instrument are given the opportunity to perform solo or in an ensemble. The upper school choir will perform and will include soloists.

Throughout the year there are many opportunities to perform in assemblies, productions and concerts which all provide important opportunities for the children to perform, share and enjoy music through singing, playing and listening to music.

Children have the opportunity to join school-based extra-curricular musical clubs before school or at lunchtime, including Year 3 and 4 choir, Years 5 and 6 choir and orchestra, run by members of staff and RMT.

Extra-curricular music trips are also offered, giving children the opportunity to perform alongside the wider community. These include the annual RMT Singing Festival, and Young Voices at the O2 arena. Opportunities for cross-curricular links are also taken, wherever possible, to link music with other subject areas and learning themes.

In each year, children will attend a concert or musical workshop within school. To promote the children’s understanding and love of different musics, these workshops and concerts include African drumming, Samba, Gamelan orchestras as well as violin and rock/pop concerts by local musicians.

Implementation

Music lessons are provided on a weekly basis throughout the School, and are taught using the Charanga scheme of work, which ensures progression of skills across the year groups.

In addition, Sing Up is used to complement this scheme.  Music lessons and activities are planned in such a way as to encourage full and active participation and enjoyment by all children.

BBC Ten Pieces puts classical music and its historical period into context for KS2 children.

Nursery and Reception children regularly take part in singing and rhythmic games and explore a large range of musical instruments from different cultures.

KS1

Years 1 and 2 are taught using the Charanga scheme. There are weekly singing assemblies which include elements of pitch, rhythm, timbre and singing in rounds. Monthly birthday assemblies are celebrated with singing groups performing.

KS2

Year 3-6 use Charanga to ensure skills progression and as much as possible make cross curricular links.

Year 3 children take part in the Wider Opportunities programme delivered by Richmond Music Trust.

In the Autumn term, they receive a whole term of strings tuition provided by the Trust. In eight weeks they learn how to play a variety of short pieces on either the violin, viola or cello. . They learn to read basic music notation and learn to play in an ensemble. They perform to their parents at end of term.

Year 3 children learn carols in Autumn 2 for performances at Ellery Hall, a day centre in Teddington for older people.

Year 4 practices and performs a Christmas assembly every year for the rest of the school and parents.

There is a whole school Carol concert at St Marys and St Alban’s church where Year 5 and 6 lead the congregation in carols. Between each carol there is an opportunity for individual instrument players to perform to the whole congregation. A group of year 6 pupils also learn a group song which will involve harmony and singing unaccompanied.

There are currently 3 choirs in the school:

- Year 3 and 4 meet together weekly to learn songs for Christmas and the Rose Theatre singing Festival     in March

- Year 5 and 6 meet weekly to practice for Christmas and for Young Voices at the O2 in February.

- Year 6 have a year-end production where children have the opportunity to sing and play instruments       either solo or in groups.

Impact

• Whole year groups sing the same songs as the choirs at singing assemblies to ensure high quality singing across all year groups in KS2. Music used for this is from RMT and Young Voices.
• The music and lyrics for these songs is uploaded onto the school website so children can practise at home.
• Through quality music choices and quality whole school singing, children learn to sing to a high standard.
• The end of year 6 production involves every child in singing. Many children are given solo or ensemble parts to sing. Children who play instruments are given the chance to play and perform solo or in groups.
• Children are often chosen to sing solo in front of the whole choir which builds confidence.

        Lessons build on previous knowledge and culminate in Year 6 with a musical production.

• Extra-curricular tuition is offered in strings, percussion, woodwind, piano and guitar by the RMT.

If you were to walk into Music lessons at Collis, you will see:

• Lots of warm up exercises to develop better singing voices, and appreciation of pulse, rhythm, pitch and a wide range of musical styles.
• Listening and appraising
• Children actively moving to the beat and using their bodies to pulse and rhythm.
• Collaboration and discussion
• Sharing of instruments
• Courage – having a go and performing
• Engagement and enjoyment
• Creativity
• Learning a new skill

Pupil Voice

What do you enjoy about Music?

• Learning to sing Mamma Mia and composing our own music (Year 4)
• Singing assemblies are great because we learn all the songs for O2 even if we are not in the choir (year 6)
• We learned to play the violin and preformed for our parents. (Year 3)
• I auditioned for the chamber choir and loved going the old people’s homes in Hounslow ( Year 6)

What helps you to improve in Music?

• My music lessons with Anthony Wilson
• Singing every week in assembly and in the classroom
• Learning difficult songs in harmony
• Learning how to use tuned and untuned instruments
• Listening to different composers

Successes in 2021-2022

• Year 5 and 6 choir participate in Young Voices (80 children)
• Year 3 and 4 choir participate in Rose Theatre singing festival (30 children)
• Year 6 end of year production
• Carol Concert in St Mary’s Church

Priorities for 2021 - 2022 are the following:

• Transition to new Charanga scheme of work
• To reinstate a chamber choir
• To reinstate peripatetic music teaching
• To reinstate Orchestra.