Thoughtful, Creative Musicians 

“Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should 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” 
(National Curriculum, Department for Education)

“I would teach children music, physics and philosophy, but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”
(Plato)

In Music we aim to develop and foster independent, resilient, and creative students that who are confident and eager to enjoy music. Our objective is to use our curriculum to teach our students that music is more than just a subject taught at school. We want students to be able to make progress from whatever starting point they reach us with and enable and inspire them to study and explore music past the classroom, and most importantly, enjoy it long after their education has finished.

Our curriculum builds upon previous knowledge as the students move up year groups, and in all cases, revisits previous skills and knowledge to embed the learning. This is achieved through the 3 main components running through all schemes of work: performing, composing, and listening & appraising.

Students experience a highly engaging and active creative curriculum that puts music expertise at the heart of everything we do, to allow for all to access the curriculum and achieve their best, enhance their cultural, moral, social, mental and physical development, develop deeply valuable transferrable skills and be prepared for life beyond school, in specialist creative careers and the wider world. These skills include critical thinking, problem-solving, communication in collaboration, resilience, persistence, ambition, respect, time management, and of course creativity.

We also aim to give students a wide variety of experiences. These may be through the diverse genres of music that we study or partaking in extra-curricular activities after school. For some students, the ability to experience a wide variety of instruments throughout the curriculum allows them to begin a musical journey that will hopefully last their lifetime. We offer a wide variety of extra-curricular clubs and allow students opportunities to showcase their work for their peers and parents and attend trips to inspire their music making.

At KS3, students study a variety of topics and learn and refine appraising, composition & performance skills. This is achieved through studying different styles, genres, and mediums; whilst always relating and building upon the ‘golden thread’ in music; the musical elements.

At KS4, Students utilise their knowledge and skill set at from KS3 to develop their ability further as a composer and performer. We study the OCR GCSE specification to create and nurture thoughtful, creative musicians.

At KS5, we build musicianship skills, a deeper awareness of the music industry and develop instrument proficiency further through the study of BTEC L3 Extended Certificate in Music Performance.

KASE in Music 

Knowledge: This is the driving force behind everything we do practically. We use knowledge to allow students to understand what and why they are doing something in Music and build substantive and disciplinary knowledge throughout the curriculum. 

Attributes: In music we are developing the attributes of confidence, resilience, creativity, patience and hard work. Performing, composing, and listening allows use to build these skills extensively throughout the curriculum and hopefully help them to be both a well-rounded musician and member of society. 

Skills: Critical thinking, problem-solving, communication in collaboration, time management, and of course creativity. 

Experiences: In music we aim to give students a wide variety of experiences. These may be through the diverse genres of music that we study or partaking in extra-curricular activities after school. For some students, the ability to experience a wide variety of instruments throughout the curriculum allows them to begin a musical journey that will hopefully last their lifetime. We offer a wide variety of extra-curricular clubs and allow students opportunities to showcase their work for their peers and parents and attend trips to inspire their music making.