Music

Music at Stillness

Intent

Music is an essential part of our curriculum. We are proud to be members of Music Mark; a prestigious educational organisation for schools that is acknowledged for placing music high on their list of priorities.  Throughout their time with us, children are given the opportunity to learn and play a variety of instruments and explore how varied music enables us to learn about influential musicians and music genres.

All children from Y3 to Y6 have a weekly class music lesson with a specialist music teacher. In addition to this, there are optional instrumental lessons in piano, clarinet, flute, drum kit, violin and guitar. These lessons are open to any child and are taught by teachers from the Lewisham Music Hub.

Music here is based around the Model Music Curriculum, which to quote “sits at the heart of the Government’s agenda for supporting curriculum music in schools”. This Curriculum is a teacher led guide with input from leading musicians and education sector bodies.

Our intention is that all children have access to and develop their musical skills through singing, listening, composing, and performing throughout their time at Stillness Junior School.

Implementation

In Y3, children start their musical journey with a yearlong course of whole class lessons on ukulele. While learning the basics of ukulele, the children sing and listen to songs in a variety of styles and genres from around the world. Building on from these skills, they compose using simple chords and perform individually and in groups.

In Y4, children progress by learning a variety of instruments including percussion, keyboards, and their voices to explore music from around the world. They build on from the knowledge and skills they learnt in Y3 and apply this when composing individually and in groups on a range of instruments.

In Y5, the children continue to build upon their performing, composing, singing, and listening skills through exploring different ways of notating music. They learn about major and minor keys in music and how to use them to create a mood or feeling in their compositions.

In Y6, the children develop their knowledge of how structure and texture work in the composition of music. They compose and perform their own songs using instruments and music technology as well as how to play chord sequences and how to create a composition using these sequences. To fully embed their knowledge and skills, they learn these chord sequences on a range of instruments.

Our School Choir is open to children from Y5 and Y6.  We do not run auditions; we select our members according to the interest and commitment.  The Choir sings at school functions and in the past have sung at The Royal Festival Hall, Blackheath Concert Halls and the Broadway Theatre, Catford.

We have introduced Music Monitors who are given tasks to support the teaching and learning of music.

Impact

Throughout their time here, children work on the core skills of listening, composing, singing, and performing. As they progress through each year, they learn the different elements in more depth.

We believe that every child has the potential to make music and that every child should be given the opportunity to learn an instrument, this could be in small groups or individually with our music tutors or in a whole class setting with our music specialist.

There are regular performance opportunities each term. In addition to this, children are encouraged to perform and share with their peers, their own music learning journey during lesson time.

When our children leave, we are confident that they have the expected knowledge and skill set to continue their learning in Y7 and beyond.

Music Overview

Music Development Plan Summary

Beyond the Curriculum

At Stillness Juniors our learning goes beyond the curriculum and is supplemented in a number of different ways. We enrich our knowledge through workshops – some led by our wonderful parents, themed days, school trips, team sports, and afterschool clubs to name some. Head over to our gallery and our Instagram page where you will see a showcase of these activities.

Please only use this form to apply for a new instrumental lesson, existing lessons remain active until cancelled.

Instrument Lesson Application Form
To apply for an instrumental lesson please fill in the form below:

Lesson Status Checker
Complete the form near the bottom of the page and take note of your lesson ID. You can use this to track the progress of your application or lesson: