Overview

At St Augustine’s we provide a high-quality music education to engage and inspire our pupils. We strive to enable pupils to recognise and develop their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and their love of music.

All pupils are given opportunities to develop their singing and performing skills in a range of supportive and encouraging environments. Throughout the academic year, all children take part in Christmas Nativities, carol concerts, class Liturgical Prayers and end of year productions.

Spirituality plays a key part in the music in school with all children being active participants in acts of worship. Strong spirituality helps children make links between the hymns and songs that they learn and their growing Catholic faith.

As pupils progress in their musical learning at St Augustine’s, they should develop an engagement with music, exploring and listening to a range of famous performers, and developing their composing and improvisation skills.

Programme of Teaching

Across the school we use a Music scheme called ‘Charanga’. Charanga is an award-winning modern-day resource for primary music. It is an enormous library of songs, compositions and topics that make links to the rest of our curriculum. Each year group uses Charanga to develop their musical knowledge and skills in appraising music, composing music, improvising to music, playing percussion instruments and singing. Charanga is a spiral curriculum, meaning that our pupils build on previous knowledge and skills year after year in familiar lesson structures. In addition to this, children in Key Stage 2 are given 2 half-terms across the year to learn a musical instrument. These lessons are provided by Gateshead Music service and are excellent tuition for new learners.

Early Years

In the Early Years, pupils sing a variety of songs and begin to move to music. They learn to express themselves freely by exploring instruments and responding to a range of recorded and live music.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1 pupils become more accomplished at listening to and appraising a broader range of high-quality music. They develop their musicianship by reading and following simple musical patterns and creating rhythms on instruments. They develop a wide musical vocabulary and begin to improvise on percussion and tuned instruments. Pupils in Key Stage 1 learn to play basic chimes and the recorder. 

Key Stage 2

Pupils continue to learn music fundamentals through Charanga and BBC Tens lessons, during which they develop their listening, appraisal, composition, improvisation and performance skills. Children continue to listen to a range of music from around the world and throughout history. They consider the purpose and character of music and use their ever-broadening musical vocabulary to describe and evaluate music. Children learn to read simple musical notation, including chords. Key Stage 2 children learn Ukulele and Guitar through excellent tuition from Gateshead Music Service. These specialist teachers work closely with staff to create and deliver a highly enriched curriculum. 

Subject Coverage

Whole School Events

Music is at the heart of many whole school events at St Augustine’s.

• Each class participates in Advent and Lenten Liturgical Prayers, during which music is used for worship and reflection.
• Christmas Nativities or Carol Services enable all pupils to participate in group or solo singing.
• End of term events allow children to showcase their instrumental learning in front of an audience.
• Throughout the year, pupils are also involved in music workshops and demonstrations.
• Larger events are often available for pupil participation too, such as the Big Sing at the Sage Gateshead.
• Extra-curricular activities that focus on different musical skills. 

Useful Links

www.charanga.com – every child has a login to Charanga. This allows them to access lessons and activities set by their teacher to develop their musical skills that they have been working on in school.

www.nyphilkids.org – features five ‘rooms’ for children to explore. You’ll find more than ten games that cover everything from composers to instruments. You can also learn about the different instruments.

www.dariamusic.com/guiro.php– under the Instruments tab children can click on eight unique instruments like a cajon or a didgeridoo. For each instrument you can listen to the sound of the instrument, an entire song on the instrument, find a colouring page of the instrument, and find directions to make your own.

www.creatingmusic.com – children can play games designed to build their listening ear. Interactive, easy-to-use tools and wizards allow children to compose their own music and hear it played back by a variety of instruments.

www.violinonline.com – features six free lessons that include tips, images, and step-by-step photographs for playing the violin.