Music

Detail

Information

Academic year that this summary covers

2024 - 2025

Date this summary was published

July 2024

Date this summary will be reviewed

July 2025

Name of the school music lead

Simon Robinson

Name of local music hub

Slough Music Service

Name of other music education organisation(s) (if partnership in place)

Culture Mix Arts

The overall objective for music provision at Western House Academy

Music at Western House Academy is taught in a fully inclusive and innovative way. All students from Nursery to Year 6 are taught the knowledge and skills to sing and play on a range of instruments, at the same time as being taught holistic musical learner attributes that benefit them in all areas on their journey in becoming a young musician. The music curriculum has a rich and varied focus on a range of musical styles and genres from across the world and throughout history, often linking to other curriculum topics, such as Science. There is a strong focus on promoting creativity and curiosity, with opportunities being provided for students to develop their confidence when performing to a high standard, whether it be for a small group or a large audience. The music curriculum focusses on diversity, recognising, representing and promoting the different cultures and ethnicities in our school and promoting these through the universal language of song and music.  

Key components that make up the Music Curriculum at Western House Academy

The music curriculum is designed so that the core principals of musicianship (performing, composing, listening and an understanding of staff notation) are covered in a progressive manner from Early Year (EYFS), through to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Children are taught the necessary knowledge and skills to become capable young musicians by the time they leave school. Progression of knowledge and skills in performing and composing on instruments such as the ukulele, guitar, keyboard, djembe and samba drums is taught through sequential units of work that build on each other across the curriculum.

As an example, there are three progressive units of work on Samba drumming in Key Stage 2. In Year 4, the children learn basic rhythms and techniques to form a simple Samba piece. In Year 5, the children then build upon their knowledge and skills and work towards memorising more complex pieces which they perform to younger year groups. In Year 6, the children then use their knowledge of rhythmic notation to compose their own Samba rhythms, incorporating this into an advanced piece of Samba drumming. Similar models of progression occur with the ukulele, keyboard and djembe drums.

The music curriculum is a bespoke curriculum that follows the National Curriculum for Music, drawing on units of work from Musical Futures, Inspire Music, as well as guidance from the Model Music Curriculum (2021). All children in Years 4 to 6 have a weekly singing assembly and the children in the Early Years and Years 1 to 3 regularly sing in their weekly music lessons. The singing repertoire is informed by the Model Music Curriculum, with the school using Sing Up as an online singing resource.

The children in EYFS are taught the Early Years Music Curriculum from Sing Up. Lessons are fully differentiated and therefore ensure that each child can make progress at a level that is accessible and achievable, at the same time as stretching their ability. In Years 4 to 6, there is a focus on using music technology, with children using their Chromebooks to access free online websites such as Chrome Music Lab, Musicca and Drumbit. These resources allow the children to consolidate their learning of rhythmic and staff notation by programming different rhythms, reading and playing musical phrases using the treble clef and identifying different pitches by ear. The children also learn how to program the keyboards, which enables them to play along to single fingered accompaniment tracks.   

Classroom instrumental teaching

All children receive a weekly music lesson. In the EYFS, this is 30 – 40 minutes and in Key Stages 1 and 2, the children have an hour's lesson. During this time, children have access to a wide range of instruments that are covered in the curriculum. At Western House Academy, there is a dedicated Music Room that is well-equipped with instruments and is spacious enough for lessons and singing assemblies to take place within it on a weekly basis.

In addition to the children learning how to play a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments, they also learn how to play the keyboard, ukulele, guitar, djembe and Samba instruments over the course of Key Stages 1 and 2. In Year 4, the children also learn how to play with steel pans. The music curriculum is fully inclusive and, through its targeted differentiation, allows children of all abilities to be able to access learning at a level that matches their needs. Children with Special Educational Needs are supported in lessons and have opportunities to access differentiated learning.

Where children wish to specialise, for example in the Steel Pans, they can join the Steel Pan club in which they are taught more challenging pieces of music, or they can join one of the Musical Collective clubs where they can specialise in instruments such as the keyboards, guitar, bass, tenor pan and double second steel pans.

Visiting music teachers

Western House Academy partners with Slough Music Service and Culture Mix Arts. Slough Music Service provides instrumental peripatetic lessons and Culture Mix Arts provides Steel Pan lessons once a week for Year 4 students as whole class instrumental teaching (WCIT) lessons. Here, the students learn from a specialist steel pan teacher about the instrument, how it is played and how to perform a range of traditional calypso pieces, as well as classical pieces such as Fur Elise that have been specially adapted for steel pan.   

Extra - Curricular Clubs

There are three main musical clubs that are offered at Western House Academy. These are the Year 5 Musical Collective, the Year 6 Musical Collective and the Steel Pan Club. Both the Year 5 and 6 Musical Collectives are free clubs that are open to anyone to join. In these clubs, the children form a large ensemble of up to 15 musicians, who perform on a range of electronic and acoustic instruments. The Steel Pan Club is currently a paid club, which is open to all students in Year 5 who have studied the Steel Pan the Year before as part of their WCIT lessons.  

Instrumental/Peripatetic Lessons

Slough Music Service provides our instrumental lessons at Western House Academy. They currently teach keyboard, guitar, cello, trumpet and violin lessons, with a range of teachers visiting the school to teach the lessons during school hours. Lessons are offered as individual or group lessons, with children working towards taking their Graded exams on their respective instrument. Parents pay for the lessons directly to Slough Music Service and there is financial support for families under a certain income threshold from the Music Service, as well as support available from Western House Academy. 

Pupil Premium student engagement

All students are taught in an inclusive manner and have an equal opportunity to participate in all curriculum learning opportunities and clubs with which their peers participate in. Funding is available for Pupil Premium students who wish to access paid music lessons or clubs.

Performance opportunities

Every child and every class has the opportunity to perform a number of times in the academic year. In Nursery and Reception, the children perform seasonal songs at Christmas as part of their Nativity play. In Years 1 – 6, every class creates a class performance for Christmas which is shared with the rest of the school. In the summer term, Years 1 – 6 participate in Sing Up Day, which is an annual event where schools across the world learn the same song. This is filmed and then sent to Sing Up to be part of their Digichoir.

In Years 4 - 6, the children have the opportunity to perform their Samba and Djembe class performances for the younger children in KS1. The children in Years 3 – 6 also have the opportunity to perform as a soloist and as a pair on the keyboards. The school often gathers to sing songs about diversity and other collective themes, too. The Year 6 children also perform a musical production at the end of the year which involves singing, dancing and acting.

As part of The Park Federation, all schools from the Academy Trust also gather to perform for an event called ‘Celebration Saturday’, where a selection of talented musicians, singers and dancers create a themed-based performance. In addition to this, Western House Academy also hosts the ‘Young Musician of the Year’ competition where two musicians from each Academy compete to win the title of the ‘Young Musician of the Year’. The Musical Collectives and Steel Pan group also perform at the Summer Fayre as well as the Year 5 Camping event.    

Western House Academy’s Music Department is always striving to make improvements to its music provision. In particular, a recent focus has been on enhancing the use of digital technology within the music curriculum and this is something that is constantly evolving. Where new apps and websites are being developed and released, the possibilities of using these within the curriculum is being explored and evaluated.

In addition to this, Western House Academy would like to bring back a vocal ensemble or choir in the future, providing opportunities for the children to sing an extended repertoire and to perform at events such as Celebration Saturday as well as in the local area.    

We are also planning to increase the amount of instruments that are offered for instrumental/peripatetic lessons via Slough Music Service, with a particular focus on trying to encourage more students to learn brass and woodwind instruments.