Children at St Erth will have weekly music lessons, linked to their topics, taught by the class teacher or a music specialist. These lessons will develop their skills in the key areas of music: singing, listening, composing, musicianship and performing. These skills are also enhanced through weekly singing assemblies where the school collectively sings as an ensemble, often leading to a performance which displays that music is held in high-regard at St Erth with key performances throughout the year. Children in Reception and Key Stage 1 all develop a vast diet of nursery songs and rhymes through the phonics programme we use as each phoneme is linked to a nursery rhyme or song to further embed each sound. So children have a daily song as part of their phonics provision as well as extended provision throughout the day.
Music is also taught through dance, movement, maths (timestables songs), English, MFL, History and Geography wherever appropriate (eg. Continents and oceans song), developing understanding of other areas and music from different cultures and periods of time.
Through the ‘First Access’ programme with Cornwall Music Hub, all children in will have the chance to play an instrument as a whole class ensemble during their time at St Erth. This could be violin, brass, ukulele, recorder or drums. Children also have access to private lessons in guitar, piano, violin, recorder and brass should they choose to engage in these areas to further build upon their skills and learning of the curriculum. Pupils who have SEND had a graduated response to their need. Some children may need adaptions physically or sensorily, others may need other changes or none to the music timetable. Each pupil will be considered individually within the graduated approach.The impact of teaching music will be evident in all children in school: their confidence, sense of rhythm, appreciation of different styles of music and creativity. Participation in music has great impact on children’s well being and mental health, often allowing individuals to express different emotions when this cannot be verbalised. Learning instruments and songs to sing improves working memory, concentration, fine motor skills, cognition and language acquisition which will impact other subject areas as well as the children’s development in musical skills and learning.
Music and performance is held in high-regard at St Erth School and the impact of this on children is that they are confident to perform and express themselves through this subject area and also gain a huge sense of achievement which has an overwhelming impact on their sense of self worth and a readiness to continue their learning journeys’.
