The music curriculum aims to deliver a programme which is both knowledge-rich and skills-based. Our aim is that students develop a secure understanding of a wide range of musical styles, and learn a wide range of practical skills to embed and reinforce that knowledge.
We believe that music is understood best when taught through practical music-making and when blended with a secure knowledge base. We aim to unlock an enthusiasm and curiosity for music in each student by introducing them to many styles of music outside of their normal playlists, whilst also linking their own music into our studies.
One of our aspirations is that all students are able to analyse and speak with confidence about music. By recognising and understanding the history and context alongside the audible music, students gain cultural awareness and compassion, complimenting the school’s character programme.
Above all, we believe that music should be accessible to all students, and therefore provide many opportunities within the curriculum for students to find the thing that inspires them most. Students have the opportunity to study a range of different instrumental skills within their KS3 lessons. Ensemble-work within the curriculum encourages positive working relationships between students and teaches co-operation, discipline and leadership.
The performing arts curriculum aims to enable students to embrace their own creativity, continually develop their confidence and grow an appreciation for drama and dance as art forms in the process.
Through their work in three disciplines: performing, devising and evaluating, students will learn a wide range of transferable skills to support their wider education and the development of their character.
These skills include collaborating successfully with others, confidence in presentation to others and the ability to accurately evaluate the progress of their own development and that of others through the setting of and responding to personal goals for development.
Alongside these core skills, students will be exposed to the theatrical exploration of different cultures, perspectives and ideas and will develop an appreciation for the construction of a theatre production and the journey from page to stage. They will consider and reflect on their own perspectives on challenging issues and the development of their own creative ideas, sometimes with others and sometimes on their own, into performances shaped by the drama and dance they have watched, read and have been taught about.
This development of their oracy, confidence and creativity will be supported by a rich knowledge of performance practitioners from Great Britain and across the world and an embracing of technical vocabulary in the classroom to develop their subject expertise.