Performing Arts – Music
Within our Performing Arts department, we aim to develop a love of performance and an appreciation of the work of others within the subjects of Drama and Music. Students study both subjects at KS3 and can opt to master the skills and techniques of the subjects further at KS4. The Performing Arts strive to deliver access to opportunity to develop skills that students will need within the subject respectively but also that will serve them far beyond the classroom.
Please see parental overview of the Music below:
Music creates a sense of community. It builds confidence, develops team working skills and encourages peer support. Within the music department, we aim to increase the self-confidence of all students and instil a sense of achievement through creating opportunities to try new skills both inside and outside the classroom with opportunities to perform throughout the school year.
At Westhoughton High School our Music curriculum is designed to reflect our school LEARN ethos:
Look after each other – Through opportunities to express their own musical identity our young people develop skills in teamwork as well as independence, and grow in the confidence needed to develop their own creativity and musical expression.
Enjoy our school – Enjoyment of music is key to engagement in lessons. Through our schemes of work we aim to develop a love of music that inspires creativity and opens up opportunities beyond the classroom.
Aim high – We encourage students to challenge themselves each lesson to develop their skills and experiment with new ones.
Respect ourselves, each other and our school community – Through encouraging students to explore different musical cultures and traditions our learners are enabled to develop an understanding of musical styles outside of their own experiences.
Never stop learning – Empowering students to explore the universal language of music through the musical elements, instruments and technology, enables them to appreciate how music is created, communicated and received.
Our learners are equipped to work towards the mastery of skills required to perform and compose their own music through the embedding of the following key skills:
- Developing knowledge, understanding, and an appreciation of music.
- Playing with accuracy & expression as a soloist and as part of an ensemble.
- Improvising, composing and listening to music.
- Exploring different musical genres, cultures and traditions.
- Develop knowledge of, and an ability to use, different types of musical notation
Links for Support/Help at Home
- Visit music shops to encourage attempting a variety of instruments to find an instrument they enjoy
- Musical instrument use at home: scheduling 15 minutes a day to practice
- Creation of a music library (technological or books)
- Musical apps that are free to download (such as VirtualPiano, Musescore, BandLab, Garage Band, Teaching Gadget etc)
- Music programmes that enable students to mix/blend music
- Develop a love of music and introduce a range of genres (use of Spotify and other such online music libraries)
- Encourage your child to participate in enrichment/extra-curricular clubs inside or outside of school
- Visit music shops or music museums/exhibitions
- Visits to festivals or concerts and attendance/participation in school productions and performances
- Use of Bolton Music Services in school
- Use of additional homework booklets, therapy work packs and/or additional resources from the class teacher via Synergy
- Use of student resources located within WHS SharePoint for students
Extracurricular clubs are further opportunities for our students to develop their performance skills and showcase their talent. Clubs include a choir for all age groups, a band group and Year group drama clubs which support further development and skill acquirement for our students. Full school productions are run twice a year at Christmas and during the summer term to encourage and foster as love of performing within our school community. Theatre and musical trips are also held to enable our students to experience the arts in practice and work alongside others from outside our school population sharing a passion for performance.
