Our Music Subject Manual contains a detailed overview of our curriculum.

Music at Sidegate aims to foster and nurture a passion and love for music that extends to all our children, their families, staff and the wider school community. Underpinning the aims of the music curriculum are our school drivers. Pupils increase their knowledge of the world as they develop an appreciation of a wide range of musical styles and idioms, including the work of composers and performers past and present and the links with history, art, social development over the centuries and explore music of other cultures. The music curriculum is broad, offering a range of activities to stimulate questioning, and it aims to support and embed learning in other areas of the curriculum.

Through music, pupils deepen their sense of community and place in the world as they explore their rich and diverse musical heritage and develop an appreciation of the significant contribution that music makes to cultures and religions across the whole world. 

The opportunity to listen to a range of high quality live and recorded music, as well as work with professional musicians and arts organisations, raises pupils’ aspirations and plants the seed that a future career in the creative industries is a possibility. In music lessons at Sidegate, all children are given the opportunity to develop their talents as musicians through singing, playing, composing and improvising; this work equips pupils with the component knowledge and skills they need in order to work creatively on more composite tasks. Pupils are expected to plan, create and perform their work like a musician and communicate their musical ideas through the use of a range of notations including the stave. 

An inclusive, extra-curricular music programme ensures that children are given every opportunity to apply their performing skills in a range of ensemble contexts, sharing their work with families and the wider community. Music at Sidegate supports pupils’ social, emotional and mental health, singing together in particular reduces the stress hormone cortisol and increases endorphins which make us feel good. The many opportunities pupils have to perform, enables  them to experience a sense of anticipation, instills responsibility and ownership and helps pupils to develop strategies for managing performance anxiety. These opportunities build resilience and contribute to pupils’ overall wellbeing and sense of self efficacy.