Music

At St Stephen’s, we make delivering a comprehensive music curriculum and instilling a passion for music amongst our children a top priority. Our aim is for all children to have the opportunity to develop talents and gain a deeper understanding and love of music.

We are very excited to announce that we have been named a Music Mark school for the 2023/2024 school year!

Statement from the Richmond Music Trust (RMT): 

RMT recognises and appreciates the value that St Stephen’s School places on music, and we would like to celebrate this by nominating you to become part of the Music Mark community.  Music Mark is the UK Association for Music Education, championing and supporting access to music for all children and young people.

The school funds a variety of projects, led by the Richmond Music Trust, with the aim of enhancing children’s music learning. 

These include weekly Music Makers sessions in Year One, where in groups of fifteen children are provided with a firm foundation to learn an instrument and start a lifelong love of music. This is followed up in Year Two with recorder sessions, while in Year Three they move on to strings, receiving lessons in the violin, cello or viola.

As the children move into Year Four, they are given the opportunity to build on the musical skills they have developed in KS1 and Year Three. Again, expert music teachers from RMT teach a broad curriculum in which children develop their singing ability and learn to play a brass instrument. In Year Five and Year Six, the children complete a term-long course of m:tech, using musical technology to compose and produce music, while learning new musical skills and theory. In addition to this, the children in upper KS2 complete two terms of keyboard lessons where they learn new skills on the piano and build on their knowledge of musical notation and vocabulary. 

In addition to musical terminology, notation, composition and technical skills, the children at our school are introduced to composers of music, from a range of genres, to help them build an appreciation for the music they are learning to play. They will learn to understand famous songs by listening and responding while unpacking and discussing the instruments and vocals they are hearing.

We believe it is important that children of all abilities are given the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their musical talents in a variety of situations. In class lessons, children use a selection of instruments such as keyboards, stringed and brass instruments, glockenspiels, recorders, xylophones, computers, percussion and their own instruments. They are also encouraged to perform pieces to their peers during our weekly music assembly. Class assemblies feature children’s performances and the whole school performs songs for occasions, such as the Harvest Festival, Easter and Carol Services. The Summer Concerts are a wonderful opportunity for each year group to showcase their learning.

Many children also take advantage of the RMTs one-to-one music tuition in our Music Room. A number of extra-curricular musical clubs are on offer, including orchestra, which practices weekly with music teacher Tim Wilford. The orchestra performs at our Christmas and Easter services. We also have a thriving singing club which performs alongside other RMT schools at the Singing festival at the Rose Theatre during the summer term.  

By developing our young musicians, we aim to instill a love for music that will follow them throughout their lives.

See below for our Music Long Term Overview 24-25

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