Music is highly valued at Thomson House, with every class receiving two music lessons as well as a Singing Assembly. These are delivered by a specialist music teacher who provides a progressive and engaging music curriculum, with many cross-curricular links, that enables them to develop a knowledge and understanding of musical language and systematically build musical skills.

In Reception those skills are learning to sing and perform with confidence, feeling the beat in their bodies, recognising contrasts in music (fast/slow, loud/quiet, high/low) and experimenting with different sounds through their voices and percussion instruments.

In KS1 and KS2 we aim to follow the National curriculum, and work in harmony with the recent Model Music Curriculum.

KS1:

• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.
• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically. 
• Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high quality live and recorded music. 
• Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music.

KS2:

• Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression.
• Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music.
• Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.
• Use and understand staff and other musical notations.
• Appreciate and understand a wide range of high quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.
• Develop an understanding of the history of music.

As they progress through the school, they develop the ability to sing confidently in 3-part harmony, read and write music, increase musicianship skills through learning a variety of instruments and appreciate music from many different genres. They are also given many opportunities to express their creativity through improvising, composing and performing.

All children have access to tuned and untuned percussion instruments and from Year 2, they receive whole-class instrument lessons. Year 2 learn the recorder, Year 3 learn a string instrument (violin, viola or cello), Year 4 learn the ukulele, Year 5 learn to play in a Gamelan ensemble and Year 6 learn African drumming.

Our parents generously donate to an enrichment fund, which has funded many of these instruments, music tuition for our PPG pupils and enabled amazing visiting workshops to link in with our topics.

During their musical journey at Thomson House, our children will have experienced live performances from visiting musicians or have been to a concert for schools at the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, Rose Theatre and the O2 Arena.

Throughout the year, every single child performs in a school concert or production and there are many more performance opportunities available in assemblies, recitals and music festivals.

Performance Opportunities:

Autumn	Spring	Summer
- Harvest Festival - Y1 Nativity, supported by Reception - Lower School Carol Assembly - Upper School Carol Concert at St Mary the Virgin - Carols on Sheen High Street - Christmas Fair	- Y3 Themed Spring Concert, supported by Y2 - Upper School Themed Spring Concert - Young Voices Concert at the O2 London Arena - Barnes Music Festival - Pro-Corda Chamber Music Festival	- Y6 Production, including all of Y4 and Y5 as supporting Choir - Richmond Music Trust’s Singing Festival at the Rose Theatre -  Upper School Summer Concert