Summer 2024

We are looking forward to a term of celebrating our musical learning and success' throughout the term. There are a number of events to look forward to and experiences to be had.

Spring 2024

We are looking forward to an exciting term with our musical curriculum. There are opportunities for children to develop their musicality embedded in the curriculum. There are opportunities from Nursery to Year 6 to sing, play a  range of instruments, listen and appraise from a range of musical genres and compose.

Spring Soiree 2024

Year 3 and 4 wowed us with their wonderful performances in the Spring Soiree. A showcase of their musical learning throughout the year - we were treated to Ukulele playing, Clarineos and lots more! They showed us all how talented they were and how hard that have been working. We were all so proud of what they achieved!

Sons of Pitches Workshop

The whole school participated in a workshop with Joe, Joe and Mide from the Sons of Pitches. We were taught to beat box and children from Nursery to Year 6 enjoyed the session.

Mini Music

This is our Mini Music club, which is run by our Year 6 Music Leaders. They have been working on developing rhythm and they love to sing songs.

Pathway Curriculum in Reception

In Reception, children have been learning about the different instruments in the Orchestra. Here they are having a go at the violin. They learnt that it could be played by a bow or to be plucked. It was tricky to hold and play at the same time!

Autumn 2023

An exciting year of musical learning ahead of us. After the success of the Listening Calendar last year, it has returned so that children can listen to a wide range of music from all over the world, different genres and from history. There are many events planned for this term, including a workshop for the choir from Welwyn Garden City Male Voice Choir and many performance opportunities this term. This is also of course as well as our marvellous music curriculum!

Instruments@Homerswood

We are lucky to have a variety of instruments that children get the opportunity to learn, be creative with and master. In Nursery, children get to explore many percussion instruments. In Reception we get to know the instruments of the orchestra and begin to play tuned percussion, including chime bard and boomwhackers. Year 1 and 2 master their xylophone skills and explore rhythm and bead with percussion instruments, including the Djembe drums that we have. The ukulele is introduced in Year 3 and the opportunity to develop the skills continues to Year 6. We had the opportunity for Year 4 this year to learn the Clarineo - they are doing very well.  Children in Year 5 & 6 will learn to play tuned instruments, such as the keyboard or xylophone.

Music Monitoring - Pupil Voice

Mrs Cain talked to pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 about their musical learning and what they think of Music in general. The children were enthusiastic about what they were learning and keen to share their creativity and new skills that they had learnt. 

Year 1 - 'We have played some drums' 'Music can be quiet and good!'

Year 2 - 'We have learnt different notes' 'Pitch pencils make lots of different noise' 'We practice retrieval questions'

Year 3 - 'We do A minor and F major' 'Fun to learn all the strings and notes' 'Latin Dance is the song that we are learning with the Ukulele'

Year 4 - 'The Clarineo make a deep sounds with pitch' 'We clap the rhythm' 'We have some rests' 'We play rhythms on cards'

Year 5 - 'We have learnt to sing together and not on our own' 'We should sing in harmony' 'We love to listen to the music - some of it isn't brilliant'

Year 6 - 'We've listened to musical trailblazers - Hanz Zimmer is very good' 'We have learnt chords on keyboard'

Musical Leaders

Our musical leaders promote the love and joy that Music can bring to our world. They support and lead in our weekly singing assemblies, lead the younger children in our Mini Music club and keep our musical resources in order. We are very proud of how they lead and grateful that they do such a good job.

Music Mark!

After sharing our wonderful Musical curriculum and culture with Hertfordshire Music Service, we have become a Music Mark School. We were invited to become a member to celebrate the value that Homerswood places on music.

Music Clubs

We are lucky to have a number of musical clubs at Homerswood. We have a Make Music club for Reception and Nursery, which is led by our year 6 Music Leaders, choir and ukulele club. 

Summer 2023

Across the school this term, children will continue to listen and appraise a large variety of music musically. As well as our weekly listening calendar, we will be listening to a range of music across the school, from Bjork in Reception to 20th and 21st century genres in Year 6. We will be composing in a variety of ways, for example Year 5 will be working in the ternary form. 

We also look forward to having some visitors from within our community this term - watch this space for more information. 

Spring 2023

We are looking forward this term to a choir trip to the O2. We continue to build on our musical skills through our Music curriculum, from Nursery to Year 6. Year 3 and 4 are busy preparing to showcase their learning and skills in the Spring Soiree. 

Superstar Singer!

Each week in Singing Assembly, two superstar singers are selected. The superstar singers then look out for children who open their mouths to sing, articulate, sit or stand up straight and have a go. They then make their decision on who they will be the following week. The superstar singers have the option of wearing a superhero cape until the next week where they will pass it on to the next superstar singer. Who will they be this week?

Listening Calendar

Each week, in class and assemblies we listen to a piece of Music as part of the school day. We have listened to lots of different genres and discuss the piece of music musically, using musical language. Children think and discuss the differences and similarities with each one and their preferences. Some of the genres have been / will be..... Soul, Hip Hop, Classsical, House, Opera. 

Autumn 2022

We are looking forward to another year of music making across the school. This year, we have planned lots of events and experiences to enrich Music for children. The choir will be off to the O2 in January and there will be lots of in house events for year groups to experience live music. We will continue to build links with local music groups in our community.

Spring 2022

As we head into 2022, children across the school will continue to sing, listen, appraise and make Music. We continue to master the skills that we have learnt over the last term and hope to share with our community in person over the next term.

Over the next term, children will be building their musical vocabulary from Nursery up to Year 6. Choir and Ukulele club started well last year and continue to grow this year.

Autumn 2021

The main focus of the curriculum this term, as always, will be making Music. We use a range of instruments and (finally!) singing! We will be working hard on retraining our voices and bodies to sing. 

In each lesson, children have the opportunity to warm up, listen and appraise a piece of Music, sing and play an instrument. During their time at Homerswood, children will be introduced to Djembes, xylophones, ukuleles, boomwhackers, chair drumming, keyboard and others during their weekly Music lessons.

We are also delighted that Music clubs like choir and ukulele will begin again later this term.

We will also be looking at ways of getting more children to access music lessons than do already. Music can benefit us is so many different ways - improving our mood, help improve our memory, concentration and improve our confidence and self esteem. There will be more information coming home this term if you or your child would like to take up this wonderful opportunity.

It is well recognised that music ignites all areas of child development and skills, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language and overall Literacy. It can also help to develop the skills, attitudes and attributes that can support learning in other national curriculum subjects, developing the ability to think in patterns and pictures.

 At Homerswood children will gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions and musical genres. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music.

We also teach the children to listen and to appreciate different forms of music. Here they can develop descriptive skills when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions. 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.

Music at Homerswood is an exciting and engaging part of the curriculum. Children experience a rich and broad range of musical lessons during their time here. Highlights include a performance each year, a weekly singing assembly, a large and talented choir (extra-curricular) and whole class guitar lessons in Year 4. The choir has taken part in ‘Voice in a Million’ events which have created magical memories for all involved.

Concerts such as the Nativity (Nursery to Year 2), The Spring Soiree (Years 3 and 4) and the Summer Production (Year 5 and 6) provide all children with a fantastic opportunity to learn about performance. Our more able and talented singers and musicians can experience solos, duets or small choir songs and our budding actors and actresses have the opportunities to take lead and supporting roles to broaden their experiences and build their confidence.

For those children without a love of singing, dancing or acting; creative talents are channelled instead into performance support. Here children take sole responsibility for lighting, sound and technical assistance. This not only ensures the full participation of all children but also builds skills and knowledge and has unearthed some truly gifted engineers!