GSO Test

Music

Introduction

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity and helps children make sense of the world around them.

At Hempstead Infant school, we realise that musical experiences in childhood can accelerate brain development, facilitating learning in other subjects and enhancing skills that children inevitably use in other areas, particularly those skills for language acquisition and reading. We also recognise that there is a causal link between music education and spatial awareness -   having an understanding of music helps children make visual links between elements, which is a critical factor when problem solving in numeracy/maths. A musical education also enhances the ability to remember verbal information stored in memory.

Academic achievement isn’t the only benefit of a high-quality music education – it ignites all areas of child development, including that for gross/fine motor skills and for their personal, social and emotional skills. At Hempstead Infant School we aim to inspire children to develop a love of music and singing, along with their talent as musicians, increasing their self-confidence, self-esteem and sense of achievement.

Early Years Foundation Stage

To reach an expected level of achieving the early learning goal, the children will sing songs, make music and dance and experiment with ways of changing them. They will do this through a topic-based approach, by:

  • Building a repertoire of rhymes, songs and dances, through daily singing and whole school assembly.
  • Explore the different sounds of instruments, following and creating their own simple rhythms, for example, to accompany stories such as, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
  • Initiate new combinations of movement and gesture in order to express and respond to feelings, ideas and experiences, for example, through the exploration and investigation of mini-beasts.

Year 1

(This section is being updated)

Year 2

Year 2 teach music also through a topic-based cross-curricular approach, building on all the skills previously learned in FS and Year 1. The children are taught to:

  • Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs, for example, about pirates during their topic on Black Beard and other pirates.
  • Play tuned and untuned instruments musically to explore different sounds, for example using African drums during their topic on Anansi.
  • Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music to explore examples of music styles and genres.
  • Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions/elements of music, using their singing voices, body percussion and whole body actions, as well as learning to play instruments effectively.