At Summerside, we are committed to providing a rich range of musical experiences for our children. All children have access to a music curriculum, starting from the Early Years where they explore and discover through play. Throughout the school, lessons are well sequenced, ensuring that the key skills to perform, listen to, review and evaluate music are taught, revisited and embedded and built on each year. We believe that children need to be exposed to a variety of musical cultures and experiences to enhance their understanding of the world. All children are given the opportunity to understand and explore the variety of genres of Music.

It is paramount that we increase children’s self-confidence and that we give them the opportunity to succeed and feel proud of their achievements and this can be done so well through music even with children who have English as an additional language or limited communication skills. SEND children are encouraged and supported through Music activities across the curriculum, such as chanting in Maths, singing in science and movement in dance. Music activities can also help promote learning in other areas such as Reading, language and Maths, something which children may struggle with in the early years of school. Performances, such as Christmas plays, nativities and end of year shows, demonstrate that music is important to the life in our school. Children are exposed to Tier 3 musical vocabulary which can be transferred to other areas of the curriculum.

We offer extra-curricular lessons and clubs to promote a love for music which we believe helps to boost well-being and a desire to achieve and feel good. By attending these, social skills are developed in a fun and expressive way and children develop skills that can be built on in the future.