Why do we teach music?
“Music is life itself” - Louis Armstrong
At Westcliff, we want to engage and inspire our children to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. Our goal is that the music our children love will become a part of their lives and bring colour to the experiences that shape them.
We aim to increase our children’s self confidence, creativity and sense of achievement through the delivery of a high quality music curriculum.
How Music is taught at Westcliff?
We follow the National Curriculum and the National Plan for Music Education as the basis of our own curriculum. We focus on one strand of music each half term, taught progressively throughout the school. Children receive one hour of music lessons during the week, broken up into short periods. By teaching music in this way we can ensure that our children have the opportunity to:
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listen to and evaluate music from a full range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions
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learn to sing
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create and compose music independently and in groups
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learn to play musical instruments (percussion and glockenspiels)
Our music curriculum supports teachers to teach children musical knowledge and skills. We also want our children to appreciate different genres of music and begin to become familiar with some of our great composers. We do this within music lessons and through our daily WOW (World of Westcliff) sessions.
Specialist Peripatetic Tuition
We are part of the Blackpool Music Hub which gives all children in Year 3 a chance to join the wider opportunities ukulele club. All children in Year 4 receive free guitar tuition through the same scheme. Children in Years 5 and 6 can continue learning to play the guitar for a small, heavily subsidised tuition fee.
Extra curricular music
Every year we join with other schools from across Blackpool to perform at the Blackpool Schools music festival and Schools Alive. Our children also represent Westcliff at the BMS Musician of the Year event.
Our children can also join our inclusive choir in Key Stage 2 which is led by our peripatetic teacher.
Music Curriculum