Music Zone

Welcome to the MUSIC ZONE!

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. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.                    (National Curriculum 2014)

Our Intent:

At St Bede’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to provide children with a variety of musical experiences in order to develop their listening, appraisal, knowledge, composing and performing skills as well as a passion for music.  They will be given a range of opportunities to be expressive, creative and critical within lessons as well as outside the classroom, including during collective worship.  Members of our wider school community and visitors are warmly welcomed in to share these experiences as well as their talents and knowledge with us. 

Our curriculum:

In Early Years and KS1 the children will be given many opportunities to:

• LISTEN and APPRAISE: a range of music including modern easy-to-learn songs, to classical, to African music. They will develop the use of mucial vocabulary such as: piano, forte, tempo, beat and pulse and use it to discuss what they hear. They will learn about the history of music and study the Romantic composers: Saint Saëns and Tchaikovsky.
• PLAY and COMPOSE: using a range of untuned percussion instruments which they will be given chances to explore and make music with. They will also develop their singing skills and use these within composition. They will learn to work together to produce compositions and will develop the use of picture notation to represent the sounds they have created.
• PERFORM: songs as well as their own compositions in a range of situations such as within their class and our school, to class assemblies and Christmas Productions.

In KS2 the children will be given many opportunities to:

• LISTEN and APPRAISE: a range of music including songs about the Roman Empire and World War II, to classical music from a range of musical periods, to musical styles such as Chinese, Jazz and Swing. They will develop the use of mucial vocabulary such as: dynamics, tempo and texture, and use it to discuss what they hear. They will learn about the history of music and study the composers: Edward Elgar, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach.
• PLAY and COMPOSE: using a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments which they will be given chances to explore and make music with. Additionally, In Year 5, they will learn to play a brass or woodwind instrument, with the support of specialist music teachers, as part of a class band. They will also further develop their singing skills, learnig to sing harmonies and canons, and use these skills within composition. They will to work together to produce compositions and will develop the use of formal stave notation to represent the musicthey have created.
• PERFORM: songs as well as their own compositions in a range of situations such as within their class and our school, to class assemblies and Christmas Productions.

Useful Links

Does your child play a musical instrument at home or in school? 

Would your child like to join the Vale Royal Band? 

Please find the invitation with all the details in the 'Files to download' section at the bottom.

Music@Home

Whilst we are in lockdown here are some useful links you might fid useful at home:

• BBC Bitesize daily lessons. Click here, select your year group and search through the daily lessons for music lessons.
• BBC 10 pieces at home has a collection of classical pieces with activites that you can do at home.
• Myleen Klass  music lessons on Youtube.
• Out of the Ark have released some songs for use at home. These are songs we usually sung in assemblies and they are great fun!
• Sing up have also produced a list of songs to sing at home.

More EYFS / KS1 resources

• BBC Teach has a wealth of resources.
• BBC School Radio for EYFS
• BBC School Radio for KS1
• BBC Bring the Noise has activities specially designed for EYFS and KS1.
• BBC 10 Pieces for EYFS and KS1 have developed 4 units of work based around 4 classical pieces.

More KS2 resources:

• BBC 10 Pieces was originally developed for KS2. Now there are 40 pieces with videos introducing the piece and some informaiton about the composer, as well as units of work to develop in schools.
• BBC School Radio for KS2  There are a range of songs to learn here based on topics from the Romand to Shakespere to WW2.
• BBC Bitesize also have a collection of videos explaining a range of musical terms and ideas.
• Durham Music have developed a podcast, teaching 2 new songs a week.
• Sphynx Kids - has lots of games and activities developing musical knowldge including composers.
• Classics for Kids also has information about composers and games to develop their knowledge.

Musical Events

At St. Bede's we pride ourselves on providing children with a wide range of musical experiances and opportunities to perform to family and friends.

Christmas Productions

Each year, Reception and KS1, and KS2 take it in turns to put on a Christmas production.

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 perform a Nativity, retelling the story of the birth of Jesus, with a modern twist. In 2023 we performed 'Lights, camel action!'

Our Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 children perform other types of plays such as 'Ebeneezer' (based on the story of the Christmas Carol), or pantomimes such as 'Cinderella Rockerfella' and 'Alladin Trouble'.

Sing the Christmas Story

Children in Year 1 and 2 went to Chester Cathedral to 'Sing the Christmas Story'. They say 5 specially selected songs with the other schools and then performed their own song 'Good Luck with That'. In between the songs, they listened to a reading of the story of Christmas.

St Nicholas' Music Festival

Every year, children from the feeder primary schools are invited to attend the Music Festival at St. Nicholas' Catholic High School where we are lucky enough to watch some musical acts from the very talented pupils. We take with us the school choir and members of Year 6 to perform two songs of our own. 

Music Evening

Each summer we hold a Music Evening to celebrate the musical talents of children in our school. We have performances from the Year 5 Music Makers, violins, clarinets, flutes, guitars and singers. Here are some of the highlights:

Year 5 Music Makers

During Year 5 the children learn a Woodwind or Brass instrument under the guidance of two specialist teachers. This was their first performance and it was enjoyed by the children and parents alike.

Young Voices

Every two years the school choir attend the Young Voices concert in Manchester. It is an amazing evening in which children get to sing songs they have learned with a group of over 8000 children from other schools around the area.

Files to Download