Trotts Hill Primary School and Nursery
"Music is a piece of art that goes in the ears straight to the heart".
"Yes because I love singing, dancing and performing." Bailey.
" Yes because not a single bit of music is boring!" Katy.
"Yes because I get to listen to different music and play different musical instruments!" Akira
The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all children are taught:
How to Sing, through careful listening, and well-developed sense of pitch and sing in harmony.
Listen to music as it is fundamental to musical understanding and to have a deeper understanding of how music is constructed.
Compose, to create musical sounds, vocal chants, body percussion and creating rhythm and pitch.
Musicianship, to understand the musical terminology for Pulse/beat, Rhythm and Pitch
At Trotts Hill, children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, and composing across historical periods, and musical genres. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.
The music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as the weekly singing assemblies, and choir sessions, performances, and the learning of instruments. The elements of music are taught in the classroom lessons so that children are able to use some of the language of music to dissect it, and understand how it is played, and appreciated. In key stage 2 children learn how to play an instrument, from strings, percussion and tuned percussion (glockenspiel). Children are taught to create notes as well as how to read basic music notation. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument. The history periods and musical genres are taught throughout Key stage 2 by listening to, appreciating, and composing whilst studying BBC Ten Pieces and assembly music.
Whilst in school, children have access to a varied programme, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a child may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose - either as listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse. The Music Mark has recognised that Trotts Hill provide a variety of opportunities and resources, giving the children the confidence and opportunities to perform and develop their musical journey.
The choir sang a selection of Christmas songs to entertain the old folk at Wisden Court and Martins House. The residents joined in with many of the songs and we had lots of positive feedback and thanks for taking the time to visit the care homes.
Year 2 beautifully sang and enthusiastically performed 'Stable Under the Star', 'Sleigh Ride' and 'Jingle Bell Rock' in front of a packed-out hall.
During the summer term, each year group has a genre to study. Here are a few examples of the things the children found out when they researched their genre.
We are very passionate about the Arts and every year children from year 2 to year 6 take part in a Celebration Evening. We represent the Arts by singing, dancing and acting.
This year we performed dances relating to our topic work. We learnt songs that challenged us, particularly when we sang in French and had many different colours to learn in Joseph's coat. We also sang in two parts depicting the story, using the narrator, Joseph, and his brothers.
Key stage 1 also learnt a song in 2 parts and sang it to Key stage 2. Key stage 2 learnt a song in 4 parts and celebrated their achievement by singing to key stage 1.
EYFS both learnt songs and sang to one another. Nursery sang a song about being friends and learnt how to sign it also. Reception learnt a song called Sing a Song, by the Carpenters.
The creative crew support all aspects of the arts, including music, art, DT and French.
The children were invited to sing in the Stevenage Music Festival. They sang so beautifully. The first song we sang had soloists and they sang so well without any nerves and said how proud they were of themselves after they had finished.
We had a wonderful time at the O2 sing with 8700 children. We have been rehearsing for a long time and have learnt all the song lyrics and actions. We had a fantastic time and really enjoyed singing with professional singers, beatboxers and DJ Grammar.
In the slide show you will see us rehearsing at school, travelling on the coach, rehearsing at the O2 and some photographs from the performance.
Music for assembly
Assembly Music for Spring Term 2
Assembly Music Spring Term 1
Year 2 listened to Vivaldi 'Winter' and illustrated how the music made them feel.
The choir performing to Wisden Court residence.
Reception performing 'A Wriggly Nativity'
Year 2 performing their Christmas Showcase.
Year 3 performing to parents and carers.
Year 4 performing their Christmas songs to their parents and carers.
October 2021
Gabriel, Karolina and Amali, took part in the Stevenage Music Day. They really enjoyed learning new songs and singing altogether with other children.
During Arts Week, each year group from Nursery to Year 6 learnt a song to sing to another year group. Every year group also learnt Lean On Me and performed it to one another. It was great to hear the children performing to one another after such a long time. It was great to see their smiling faces and the enjoyment of listening to a live performance.
Music is fun and BBC Ten Pieces have added lots of new resources for you to use.
EYFS and KS1 have Bring the Noise, a selection of songs for you to sing and dance to and there are also stories to listen to.
KS2 have a selection of ten new pieces of music to listen to and be creative with -Trailblazers.
Enjoy listening to and being creative with music and there is even an opportunity to upload your work to the BBC.
The choir were invited to sing at the Stevenage Festival along with the other primary schools in Stevenage. They had to learn three songs to sing altogether as one large choir and we performed a song on our own. We had a great time and for some children this was the very first time they have ever performed on a stage.
Trotts Hill had a wonderful Celebration of the Arts! This year we linked our celebration evening with our whole school celebration of 50 years! Each act was linked to a different decade. Everyone performed amazingly, and the parents even got involved for our last song! Everyone worked really hard and Trotts Hill truly showcased how talented they really are!
We had a fantastic time when a selection of year 5 and 6 children sang at the O2. We performed with over 8000 other children at the Young Voices Concert. On our evening we had a special guest Tony Hadley. We sang and danced the night away and although it was a really long day, we all had a fantastic time and it is something that we will remember for a very long time.
