Intent

At Thomas Jones, we want to create a passion for music in our children that will stay with them in their future lives. Our music curriculum is ambitious and we ensure that music is an inspiring and engaging experience that enables every child to develop their musical potential. Alongside this we want children to develop an appreciation of the value of music that is deeply personal to them. Our aim is for children to have a curiosity for the subject and a respect for the role that music may play in any person’s life. Having a high quality programme of music for appreciation ensures this core value, we want to afford children the opportunity to encounter artists outside of their experience in life thus far.

We endeavour to provide a variety of musical experiences through a curriculum which develops a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and listen to with discrimination to the best in the musical canon. 

Music teaching at Thomas Jones ensures that all pupils perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians. We ensure that our lessons provide the opportunity to learn to, sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level as a musician.

The curriculum bases great emphasis on how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.    

Children at Thomas Jones have the opportunity to explore a variety of musical genres and cultural styles from around the world. They study a diverse range of male and female composers throughout history, and learn to listen critically and appraise using subject specific vocabulary.  

The teaching of music at Thomas Jones also promotes the fundamental British Values, reflecting the school’s learning ethos. Our curriculum offers bountiful opportunities to support children in understanding the importance of tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions in order to appreciate and respect their own and other cultures. Musical styles and artists from across the world and a range of different cultures are studied. Through the music curriculum, children are also taught to accept that the ideas of others may not be the same as their own, but are equally valid.

Through the curriculum we aspire to develop learning, improve knowledge and promote pupil well-being through confidence building.  Music can impact the way that children feel, think and act; we want music to encourage the body and mind to work together, develop motor skills and allow self-expression. We believe that music is a gateway to supporting the whole child socially, emotionally, morally and culturally. The confidence and positive attitudes we aim to achieve will only come from providing children with a rich, diverse and engaging music curriculum, with high-quality extra-curricular opportunities.

We try to engender a sense of the special with our music provision, utilising visiting music groups where possible and offering children the opportunity to work alongside and be inspired by world-class performances. Most recently Thomas Jones pupils have had the chance to play alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, perform as part of a youth choir at the Royal Albert Hall, work with the Royal College of Music, learn to play the steel pan and write and perform calypso songs with professional musicians. We also offer a programme of peripatetic instrument lessons including violin, piano and cello.