Music

Music at Jesse Gray is taught through weekly timetabled sessions for all classes, using a one-year cycle of topics, which cover all the key musical skills of performance, composition, listening and appraising. Our practical and engaging curriculum has been designed to give each pupil a broad and balanced musical experience and shows good progression in knowledge and skills from FS2 to Year 6. Through it, we aim to foster an understanding and respect for different musical traditions, styles, abilities and opinions and to inspire a life-long interest and enjoyment of music. Differentiation is used to ensure our curriculum is challenging to pupils of all musical abilities and to ensure that all children can access, enjoy and reach their individual musical potential. The curriculum is regularly monitored and reviewed.

Music is an important part of life at Jesse Gray. Our enrichment activities include joint concerts and workshops with other local schools, attending concerts and musicians visiting the school to perform for us.

Jesse Gray also offers instrumental tuition in a wide variety of brass, woodwind and string instruments, as well as drum kit, to Year 3 and above, with Suzuki violin from Year 1. The KS2 choir and staff choir rehearse weekly with Mrs Walton. Mr Reckless runs the school orchestra for musicians who are recommended by their instrumental teacher, having attained the required standard. At lunchtime, the Year 1 and 2 recorder groups rehearse. Many of our musicians are also members of local orchestras, bands and ensembles within the community.

There are many opportunities to hear music being performed at Jesse Gray through our FS2 and KS1 Christmas productions, the Christmas Celebration at St. Paul's Church, recorder group concerts, two instrumental concerts (featuring the orchestra, small ensembles and soloists), choir concerts, a Year 6 production and Year Group Assemblies.

Louise Walton

lwalton@ga.jessegray.notts.sch.uk