Music At Belmont

At Belmont School we provide opportunities for all pupils to create, play, perform and enjoy music. We want every pupil to experience a wide variety of musical forms and appreciate the importance of making music together.

Article 28 – Every child has the right to a good quality education.

Article 29 – Education should help children to develop their talents and abilities.

Curriculum Intent

At Belmont School, our music curriculum intends to deliver a high-quality music education which engages and inspires all pupils to develop a love of music, to identify and nurture their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Curriculum Implementation 

We use the Music scheme devised by LSC across the school. We have a range of instrumental tuition delivered by peripatetic staff from the Harrow Music Service. We currently offer tuition on the flute, clarinet, keyboard, guitar, violin, recorder, drumkit and steel pans. Children are taught in small groups of four for 30 mins each week. Children are taught class music once a week as part of the curriculum for 40 or 50 minutes.

We aim to implement the intent by giving the children the opportunity to

• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers such as Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Mozart, Prokofiev, Debussy, George Gershwin and Hans Zimmer.
• 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 of musical achievement.
• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

Curriculum Impact

A rounded musical experience for every child, giving them opportunities to develop vocal, listening, instrumental and performance skills. Every year, children who learn an instrument through small group teaching have the opportunity to participate in the Harrow Music Service music festivals alongside children from other schools in the borough. These are the Band, Guitar, String, World Music, Recorder and Song Festivals. Once a year, either at Christmas or in the summer, staff from the Harrow Music Service come to Belmont to perform for the children. They have also performed in more local venues, such as care homes and outside supermarkets such as Sainsbury's. The children have regular opportunities to perform for audiences in school throughout the year in class assemblies for celebration events.

Opportunities for performance develop self – confidence, which can be readily noticed when the end result following weeks of practice and rehearsal is compared with the standard of playing or singing at the outset. We know the impact of collaborative learning and enjoyment in creative learning has been achieved when the children are eager to demonstrate their group learning ideas with confidence, in performance to the rest of the class. We also know that the impact of regular singing has an immense effect on morale and well – being. This is evident when the children are still singing cheerfully in the corridor having left the hall or Music Room.

Instrumental Tuition

Across the school around 50 pupils are currently learning a musical instrument. Pupils are able to choose from keyboard, violin, guitar, flute, clarinet, recorder, tabla, harmonium, sitar and steel pans.