Monksmead School

Music

At Monksmead School, we value Music as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Exposure to music can also help towards reducing children’s feelings of anxiety and stress, improve their concentration and enhance the way children can process language and speech.  We aim to engage 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.

Implementation

In EYFS, within Expressive Arts and Design - Exploring and Using Media and Materials, children have the opportunity to sing familiar songs, imitate movement in response to music, tap out simple repeated rhythms, and explore and learn how sounds can be change. With progression, they will begin to build a repertoire of songs and dances and explore different sounds of instruments. Within Expressive Arts and Design – Being Imaginative, the aim is for the children to develop a preference for forms of expression, to notice what adults do, imitating what is observed and then doing it spontaneously, to sing to self and make up simple songs and rhythms, and to capture experiences and responses with a range of media. By the end of EYFS, children will be encouraged to use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through music, dance, role play and stories.

In KS1 and KS2, our main priority is to teach and perfect the skills implemented by the National Curriculum for Music. The National Curriculum intends to provide clarity and flexibility, allowing for the development and progression in learning. Our chosen scheme of work is the Sing Up Music curriculum, as it complements the curriculum and scaffolds the learning opportunities throughout the Key Stages.

Sing Up aims for every child to have access to high-quality, practical, and engaging musical experiences. Its aim is for all children to be able to develop their self-confidence, skills, knowledge, and understanding to develop a lifelong love of music, whilst also providing a secure foundation that enables them to take music further should they wish to.

Sing Up Music is designed and written by subject specialists. It sets out the skills, knowledge, and understanding to be gained by all pupils at each stage of learning. The units of work provide a progressive library of resources that meets the requirements of the National Curriculum for Music, the suggested approaches of the Model Music Curriculum, as well as Music Development Matters. Sing Up also believe that a music curriculum should draw on a broad range of musical traditions, using authentic songs and materials, and have followed this approach when creating Sing Up Music.

This year, Year 4 are receiving a year’s worth of specialist teaching provided by Haberdashers’ Boys’ School. During these sessions, children participate in playing the ukulele, samba/djembe activities and singing. Year 3 are also receiving a term’s worth of instrumental lessons which are provided by Hertfordshire Music Service’s First Access. During these sessions, pupils learn music through singing, musical games and learning to play an instrument taught by a specialist instrumental teacher working alongside school staff. Every child gets the chance to have first-hand experience of live music, group singing, ensemble playing, composing or improvising, and performance. Children gain a real insight into the world of music, working with a professional musician, and for some this may be the start of a life-long hobby. They learn that it can be fun, that it requires time and effort, discipline and teamwork, and that, as well as being rewarding in itself, it can give pleasure to others.

Once a week, we have a peripatetic teacher from Hertfordshire Music Service who comes in to teach small groups of children to play wind instruments (a choice of clarinet, flute or saxophone). Children who are receiving these lessons have opportunities to perform in front of an audience - whether that be in local community concerts or in front of their peers and parents at school. Children are encouraged to explore their interest in pursuing learning an instrument further through the Get Playing scheme which provides them with one free taster lesson and free instrument hire for the year. This is offered to all Key Stage 2 children and the payment of these lessons can be subsidised depending on pupil premium eligibility. Parents apply for this via HMS.

Our school also offers free extra-curricular clubs which provide children the opportunity to further their learning and enjoyment of music. This year, children have the opportunity to sing in our school choir (from Years 1 – 6) and learn the recorder (Years 3 upwards). Over the years, our school choir has had many opportunities to perform alongside musical groups from other local primary schools in our local community. Some children from Year 5 and 6 performed in the Hertfordshire Music Gala 2025 at the Royal Albert Hall. All of Year 5 will also be performing in the Voice of Hope vocal project at Hertswood Theatre this year.

KS1 and KS2 pupils participate in weekly singing assemblies, where we predominantly use songs from the Out of the Ark series. These uplifting, values-based songs provide children with the opportunity to sing in unison, rounds and parts. The songs cover a range of genres and rhythms, and require the children to sing with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression.

Once a year, Monksmead pupils partake in one of the following singing performances:
- KS1 Carol Concert 
- Year 3 and 4 Singing Extravaganza!
- Year 5 and 6 Production

Through learning, rehearsing and singing songs in front of an audience, children will learn to recognise the structure and organisation of music as well as being encouraged to sing in tune, in time and with each other. 

At the beginning and end of assemblies, children are encouraged to bring in instruments that they may be learning at home and perform to the whole school. Whole school music workshops also occur annually – this year we have drumming workshop for all children to participate in.

Impact

The intended impact of the teaching and learning of Music at Monksmead School follows our school drivers:

• Self-Awareness – The teaching of Music will engage 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.
• Embrace differences – Children will be inspired by and encouraged to hear about key composers and musicians from a wide range of ethnicities, languages, cultures, disabilities and other forms of diversity. In turn, this will help the children to embrace their own and each other’s differences.
• Ambitious to take the next step – Children will be confident in their own ability to apply skills that they have learnt in Music. They will be excited to improvise, compose and perform their own pieces of music, demonstrating a can-do attitude and a willingness to take risks.
• Worldy-Wise – Children will have a greater understanding of how music reflects and shapes our history, and how it contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. They will recognise it as a universal language that can be enjoyed by all.