Music

CURRICULUM INTENT

The music department at Sunbury Manor aims to provide an enriching curriculum, developingstudents confidence in performing, creativity through composition, and inspiring a curiosity to further understand and appreciate a diverse range of music. We want to help students develop a lifelong appreciation of music as listeners, performers, and composers.

Students are expected to be actively involved across different forms of creating and performing music. Across each scheme students will develop a range of transferable skills which could be applied to any future career, from developing teamwork skills, to problem solving.

At KS3 students study music for one 50-minute lesson per week. Whatever musical experience a student has had at primary school, we aim to build on this with a strongly based practical course where singing, playing instruments such as keyboards, ukuleles, guitars, and drumkits; composing and improvising are deeply embedded. Students in Year 7 build foundational skills in performing and composing across a diverse range of styles of music from Samba to Classical music. Students in Years 8 and 9 build on these skills with a greater focus on students leading their own ensembles, and creating their own compositions from writing their own protest song to composing a piece of music to reflect a film clip.

As an inclusive school we encourage any students with a passion for music to develop their skills further in KS4 through our Music GCSE. Students study the eduqas GCSE music course which challenges students to develop their performance skills and compositional skills, with all students submitting two compositions as part of their coursework.

We have a range of extra-curricular activities on offer from our school choir to individual bands for each year group. We highly encourage students to get involved and develop lifelong friendships and increase their confidence across a range of performance opportunities from school concerts to visiting local community centers. At Sunbury Manor we run a Musical each year alongside the Drama department, this is an exciting opportunity each year for students to develop their performance skills across both departments.

At Sunbury Manor we aim to provide students with the opportunity to see live performances by professionals. Whether this be visiting the West End or asking local musicians to run workshops.

The music department at Sunbury Manor School comprises of two well-resourced teaching rooms for whole class teaching and practice rooms for individual/ group work.

The music staff are made up of 2 specialised music teachers who deliver all KS3 and GCSE music lessons. The school also collaborates with a local peripatetic music provider, who offer specialist instrumental lessons to students who want to develop their personal skills on a chosen instrument.

Please click on the expandable sections below for more details including the curriculum overview and specification.

Music Curriculum Overview

Year 7

Rhythm

Basic Skills focusing on rhythm using body percussion, singing, and percussion.

Percussion

Performing as part of a Samba and Gamelan ensemble

Pitch

Performing Country Roads on the keyboard

Riffs

Performing a variety of riffs

Ukuleles

Performing as part of an ensemble using the ukuleles as harmony and voices as melody

Beethoven Rocks

Performing Für Elise and using Mix craft to recreate Classical music into Rock music.

Year 8

Programme Music

Exploring instruments of the Orchestra through listening and performing sections of Grieg’s Suite No.1 Op. 46.

Ostinatos

Listening and performing minimalist compositions.

Composing a piece of music using ostinatos to reflect Sci-Fi.

West African Drumming

Performing as part of an ensemble using Djembe’s and composing their own ensemble performance.

Blues

Composing and performing their own Blues song.

Eye of The Tiger

Developing ensemble skills by performing as part of a band Eye of the Tiger.

Protest Music

Composing and performing a protest song.

Year 9

Musical

Performing a variety of Musical theatre songs.

UK Pop

Performing a variety of UK pop songs from the 60s-present day.

Across the border Pop

Performing a variety of American pop songs from the 60s-present day.

Songwriting

Composing and performing in groups their own pop song.

Fusion

Listening to a variety of different cultures music, students will then compose their own piece of music which they feel reflects their own cultural identity.

Film Music

Composing a piece of music to reflect the action in a film clip.

Year 10

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