MUSIC

Why Do We Teach Music At St. Clare's?

“To Sing is to Pray Twice”
St. Augustine

“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you”
B.B.King

At St. Clare’s we believe that every child deserves a rich musical education that will take them far beyond their primary school years. Our music curriculum engages and inspires pupils to be creative, to develop a love of music and music making and in doing so, increase their self-confidence, creativity and self-worth. Music can empower us to realise that we can and we will reach for our goals, and this is what we want for all pupils at St. Clare’s.

Music is taught through the Stave House teaching method and all children have high quality music lessons every week. From Reception, children learn to read, compose and play music using the Stave House method. They continue to build on these skills as they go on their musical journey through the school. Children have the opportunity to take external music exams with the London College of Music.

We are very proud to be a Stave House Accredited School and regularly have over 50 children achieving their Stave House Awards each year. We are also proud to be a Music Mark School.

Shout out to Mrs Wallington who is a Stave House Accredited Teacher and Assessor with a Diploma is Early Childhood Music Education.

Mission Statement
With Jesus, we learn to love and love to learn
Our Vision
To give every child a sense of belonging, so that they have a safe and stable base from which to develop and learn.		To enable every child to grow academically, socially, morally, spiritually and culturally in the knowledge that they are loved by God and can feel safe and valued within our school community.		To nurture and support children through their primary school journey so that they are confident and well equipped to progress into the wider world as strong, independent learners and thoughtful, caring individuals.
Our Values
Resilience	Inclusion	Honesty	Compassion	Respect	Love
Our Intent
To make musical learning and music making fully accessible to all. To give all pupils the opportunity to become musically literate. To combine creativity, knowledge, vocabulary, skill and technique to enable pupils to think and operate as musicians. To enable pupils to not just experience music but to learn how it works and how to use it in many and varied ways. To enable pupils to listen, explore, respond, create and perform music creatively and purposefully. To equip pupils with a love of music and music makingto with them throughout their lives.
Implementation
Use of the Stave House Musical Literacy Programme from EYFS onwards All pupils in Year 2 and Year 3 offered opportunity to be entered for Stave House Level 1 award. All pupils in Year 4 offered opportunity to be entered for Stave House Level 2 award. Stave House teaching used in conjunction with BBC Ten Pieces, Charanga and Sing Up. Pupils will have the opportunity to learn to play a variety of different instruments: EYFS/KS1: untuned percussion, tuned percussion. LKS2: recorders, UKS2: ukulele/keyboard/brass. Where possible links are made with topics being taught in each phase, but these are not forced and some music teaching will be stand alone.
Impact
Pupils act and think like musicians. Music becomes part of their every day life in school. Pupils will take knowledge from each phase and use and develop it in different ways in the next phase, adding to their learning and using it creatively. They will revisit musical concepts and ideas in many and varied ways in order to develop their musicianship. Assessment is backed with preparation for external Stave House examinations and those pupils who are not entered for the formal examination will still follow the same preparation work and be assessed in class. Pupils will take knowledge and skills from music lessons and use them in the wider context of the school and beyond. For example: school productions, whole school masses, school productions and events such as the Christmas Fayre and Summer Fete. Pupils also have the opportunity to join music clubs and to perform in the wider community. For example: Tendring Vocal Festival (local) and Young Voices in London (national).

What Music Looks Like in Each Phase of Our School

EYFS Key Stage 1

Lower Key Stage 2

Upper Key Stage 2

St. Clare’s Choir

St Clare’s choir is always busy. We rehearse and perform at lots of different school occasions, including church services and the Christmas Fayre.

We are currently rehearsing to go and sing with the residents of St. Michael’s Convent.

We also perform every year with other schools in the Rosary Trust at St. Benedict’s School in Colchester:

Every year children in years 5 and 6 have the opportunity to perform at the London O2 Arena with YOUNG VOICES:

Essex Music Hub Instrumental Tuition

We are delighted that we are now partnered with two tutors from Essex Music Hub to deliver individual instrumental lessons. These happen on Thursdays and are open to children from Year 2 upwards. We currently have tutors who can teach the following instruments:

Flute

Clarinet

Guitar