At St. Monica’s, the Mission Statement is ‘Loving to learn; Learning to love like Jesus’. We aim to enable all children to reach their full potential through a love of learning. We believe that through the activities we offer children, they can develop a love and passion for music. Thus we endeavour to provide quality learning opportunities for each and every child and appreciate every person’s aspirations and achievements. Research shows there are many parallels between music and a child’s overall development. Music increases a child’s attention, maths ability, cognitive development, intelligence, self-esteem and reading skills. Engaging in music tuition can lead to improved brain development, increases in human connection, and even stress relief. At St Monica’s we believe that all children have a right to a musical education, including the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument.

At St Monica’s our main aim with our music curriculum offer is to give each child every possible opportunity to experience delight, enjoyment and satisfaction from music by encouraging an enjoyment of music both in its creation and appreciation, and to enable the children to understand sound as a relevant and attainable medium for expressive communication. All children have the entitlement to benefit from the individual and cultural experience that musical creativity can bring.

In order to achieve our main aim we need to develop the following core knowledge, skills and attitudes:

● Knowledge of musicians, composers, and musical elements: duration, pitch, dynamics, timbre, tempo, texture and structure.

● Skills of singing, composing, listening, performing, appraising, recording, imagination and evaluation.

● Attitudes – to develop a love for music, enjoy making music and finding a place for music in their lives.

Musical Instrument Tuition

We work closely with Sound! Music Hub to provide opportunities for pupils to learn a musical instrument.  In Year 4, pupils have whole-class weekly hour-long lessons learning a musical instrument with one of Sound! Music Hub's teachers.  There is also a String Ensemble weekly session open to all year 3-6 pupils, and a Guitar lunch group of pupils who continue their guitar learning the year after their whole class lesson.  Private music lessons can be organised with teachers from Sound! Music and they are delivered in curriculum time within school. www.soundmusichub.com

All ensembles have the opportunity to perform on a termly basis, and we also hold an annual Music for a Summer's Evening concert, where any pupil who plays and instrument/sings can perform.

We also work with Rocksteady music school, who deliver Rock and Pop inclusive band lessons designed to amplify children’s self-belief, support wellbeing and help maximise their potential back in the classroom. Children who sign up are organised into bands, and they learn their instruments/vocals through weekly band practice sessions. At the end of each term we have a rock concert performance, which is always huge fun.

www.rocksteadymusicschool.com/schools/