Music

Music

At Iceni Academy, we are lucky to have a specialist music teacher who teaches all classes.

The music curriculum aims to engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

It is split into 3 sections; perform, compose and evaluate.

Throughout their school journey, children develop skills in all of these areas through singing, playing and listening to a wide variety of styles and genres of music from all around the world. They also have the opportunity to be involved in performances in different settings, from the classroom to the O2 Arena. Every child has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through the Essex Music Service provision during school time and use classroom instruments from triangles to Boomwhackers. All children are encouraged to participate fully and build on their skills as they progress through the years.

Singing Assemblies

At Iceni, there are weekly singing assemblies (held by the specialist music teacher) where the whole school gets together to sing a variety of different songs linked to seasons, festivals, life and work that is happening across the school. These songs help us to learn, think and express our emotions. We have sung about Romans, harvest, journeying through life and counting pieces of chocolate, to name but a few.

Instrumental lessons

This year we had 13 children sign up to start learning the violin or the guitar. Lessons take place during school time, but rotate so that children do not miss the same lesson every week. The lessons are taught by teachers from Essex Music Service and are available to anyone who wishes to sign up. Bursaries are also available and instruments can be hired from the music service.

Recorder Club

Children in years 3 and 4 had the opportunity to have half a term of recorder lessons to give them a taste of what it is like to learn an instrument. There was lots of interest and most children managed to learn some simple songs with 3 notes. A small group carried on into the Spring term and were doing really well until we had to stop.

Young Voices Choir

In January, a group of children from year 5 and 6 had the opportunity to sing at the O2 Arena in one of the Young Voices Concerts. The children had been learning songs and dance moves throughout the Autumn term and then joined up with children from all over the country to perform in the concert alongside professional musicians and dancers. It was an amazing experience and all the hard work was definitely worth it!

This is a bi-annual event so every child at the school will have an opportunity to take part either in year 5 or 6 as part of their musical opportunities.

Rotary Choir

In the Autumn term a small group of singers took part in the local Rotary choir competition. They learnt 2 songs, Camelot and Amani Utupe (in Swahili!). Although the choir had only sung together for a short time they did amazingly well at the competition and were a real credit to Iceni. We hope to be able to enter again next year.

(There is a photo of the choir on the wall by Reception)

Christmas Concerts

All the children rehearsed songs and readings for their Christmas concerts, which this year, were performed in Paxman’s school hall. It was a great opportunity to use a bigger venue and the children did a fantastic job.