At St Mary and St Joseph's we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all our children. Singing lies at the heart of good music teaching. Our teaching focuses on developing the children's ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music, As children get older, we expect them to maintain their concentration for longer and to listen to more extended pieces of music.

In year 4 all the children will receive a terms vocal, drumming, steel pan, flute or violin tuition through the Wider Opportunities scheme.

Other musical activities and opportunities include:

• Hymn/song singing and playing in assemblies and school mass.
• Harvest, Christmas, Lent and Easter services
• Christmas productions
• Summer concert
• Celebration assemblies can provide an opportunity for performance of all types.
• Cathedral Christmas concert
• Music Service concerts
• Carol singing - Asda
• Visits by outside musicians and performers

Charanga

Click on this link to view the full Charanga website and find out more about how music is taught and assessed throughout school.

At St Mary and St Joseph's R C Primary School we follow the Charanga scheme of work for music.The Charanga Musical School Scheme provides teachers with week by week lesson support for each year group in the school. It is ideal for specialist and non-specialist teachers and provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson. The Scheme supports all the requirements of the new National Curriculum.

In line with the new curriculum for music and guidance from Ofsted, this Scheme moves away from the previous levels and learning objective/outcome concepts to an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to musical learning.

Robin Hammerton, Ofsted National Lead for Music stated that “We will not always know the learning outcomes” so segregated learning objectives at the start of each lesson are not appropriate. Instead the interrelated dimensions of music thread through the units to encourage the development of musical skills as the learning progresses through listening and appraising, differing musical activities (including creating and exploring) and performing.

As part of Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit week, we had a whole school music day. We thought about how music can impact upon our feelings and how we can be brought together to enjoy music. The children talked about their likes and dislikes surrounding music, respecting each other and recognising that not all people enjoy the same thing. 

Each class was given a song from different cultures, valuing and appreciating different traditions. They then created their own rhythms and completed various challenges together in groups. This encouraged the children to explore and encompass the different sounds, instruments and style of music.

Choir - Let's Go Sing 2022

Our school choir will be singing the following songs at Ewood Park, the home of Blackburn Rovers, alongside many other schools in April 2022. We are all very excited for this performance opportunity!