Mrs Miles
Music Lead
At Chadsmead, we want our children to develop a real enjoyment of music by having opportunities to perform, compose, listen and respond. We aim to provide the foundation of music skills that can be developed throughout pupils’ continuing education as well as something to be enjoyed throughout their lives.
We see the value of children being able to perform together regularly during the academic year and we notice the confidence pupils gain as they progress through the school.
We ensure all key stage two children have the chance to take part in extra-curricular music lessons and so we offer a range of instruments in ensembles, small group lessons or in whole key stage opportunities; we hope that the varied groups ensure cost is not a barrier to participation.
From Nursery through to Year 6, children are taught using the recently-produced Sing Up curriculum resources. These develop children’s skills and meet the requirements of the national curriculum for music. As children progress through the school, previous knowledge is built upon and firm foundations are created for their music lessons at high school.
Through their time at Chadsmead the children will appreciate and discuss the music they hear, identify features and express opinions across a wide range of musical genres. Pupils will have composed/improvised and taken part in various performances.
In addition to class lessons, pupils from key stages one and two attend a weekly singing session led by our music specialist. Often these sessions lead to performances to which parents are invited. Children in Early Years also sing regularly: this can be with their class teacher, teaching assistant or the music lead.
We want our children to develop a love of singing and to enjoy performing together. Music is often at the heart of our whole-school celebrations. We also accept many opportunities to take our singing out into the community, particularly with our older pupils. Our Y5/6 pupils have performed at The Lichfield Festival, Lichfield Fuse Festival, Young Voices at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham as well as local MusicShare concerts at Lichfield Cathedral – most recently Benjamin Britten’s opera, Noye’s Fludde.