Music at Allens Croft

Our music curriculum is tailored to the needs of the children in our school and sessions enable all children to develop their musicality. Weekly singing sessions in assembly are led by Mr Jones, which reinforce what the children learn in class.

Children in Key Stage One (Year 1 and Year 2) have the opportunity to join "Beat Bang Boom!" club. This is an extra opportunity for children to develop their steady beat awareness, use both pitched and unpitched percussion instruments and enjoy some creative sound making. We perform to parents at the end of term.

Year 4 children have the opportunity to learn Ukulele in whole class sessions. Those who want to develop their skills further, can opt to continue having lessons in year 5 and 6 in small "elective" groups.

Children in Key Stage Two (Year 3-6) are able to audition to join our singing group "Cleftomaniacs", so called because we use other people's songs and put our own spin on them! We rehearse once a week and perform at various times throughout the year.

Assessment

Children's learning is tracked longitudinally through their school career with us to ensure a smooth learning path. Ongoing formative assessment takes place each lesson in order to tailor subsequent lessons to match the needs of the groups of children in each class. This can include - but is not limited to - observational notes, digital recordings of performances and records of self and peer evaluation through our "Showcase" system.

Allens Croft has the Music Factor!

Each term, year groups present a song and a panel of judges comment on the musicality and performance. We usually have special guest judge Pastor Claire from Calvary Chapel, who has lots of positive and constructive feedback for each group. We also have peer judges from our school Arts Council. There are awards for each Key Stage in different categories.

The children are advised to use the comments and feedback they received during our previous singing showcase to try and improve their performances. 

Community Partnerships

We particularly enjoy strong links with the local community. In addition to regular performances to parents, our children have opportunities to perform to:

• Children who attend Allens Croft Children's Centre Nursery 
• Local residents at the Brandwood Centre's annual Christmas Dinner
• Residents of Pineapple Place 
• The wider community and congregation at Calvary Chapel

We are lucky enough to have students of King Edward VI School, Edgbaston come and perform to us as part of their outreach service and their annual "Concert Party" is a treat not to be missed! Our children particularly enjoy learning about the different sounds each instrument could make and some have been inspired to learn instruments at home!

Our Year 5 and Year 6 children also benefit from a local partnership with King Edward VI Camp Hill, who invite us to watch performances of some of their shows. In the past, one group of Year 6 children was so inspired by a visit where they saw extracts from 'Matilda', they wanted to perform some songs from it too. That year, they were very lucky because we managed to secure the rights to perform the schools edition in full as our end of year production in partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome and RSC!