Music

Music teaching at Plaistow Primary engages and inspires pupils to develop a love of music and their talents as musicians. Our quality music teaching is integral in the development of self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. We provide our pupils with ample opportunity to develop their critical engagement with music by performing, composing and analysing a plethora of genres from a variety of social, historical and cultural settings. 

Pupils at Plaistow Primary take great joy in their music education and many develop aspirations for the pursuit of music mastery in further education. Pupils and teachers alike understand how music has enriched society throughout the ages and how it brings communities together today. 

Connecting with our local community is of the utmost importance to us as a school and that is why so much of our teaching and learning is linked directly to our local area. Plaistow’s specialist music teacher works alongside professional musicians and tutors from the Plaistow area to provide our students with  high quality music provision.

As a school we work closely with The Newham Music Cluster which equips us with quality instruments and tutors as well as opportunities to perform with other budding musicians. Local community centres and performance venues in the area provide us with performance opportunities where we can connect through the universal language of music. Students are also provided with the opportunity to join E13 choir and Orchestra as well as specialist instrumental tuition after school.

Performances

Our music curriculum offers extensive opportunities for pupils to perform. Performances are held both in school and out of house and allow our students to share and take pride in their musical achievements. Pupils take part in all aspects of the curation of performances and are given the opportunity to express themselves incorporating their own interests and learning experiences.

Curriculum Aims

Our music curriculum is a bespoke design incorporating and expanding on that of the National Curriculums Music programme of study. We strive to expose the students to a high quality of music that reflects excellence and diversity. 

Curriculum aims for all pupils:

• Perform, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.
• Learn to sing and care for themselves vocally
• Create and compose music on their own and with others
• Have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument
• Explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

Pupils in Key Stage One will:

• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes  
• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically  
• listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music  
• Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

Pupils in Key Stage Two will:

• Sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. 
• Develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. 
• Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
•  Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music 
•  Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory  use and understand staff and other musical notations  
• Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions, great composers and musicians  
• Develop an understanding of the history of music