Music

Curriculum Vision

The Power of Music

Music the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. At Walthamstow Academy, music should bring our community together through the shared endeavours of: singing; ensemble playing;  experimenting with the creative process; listening to friends and fellow pupils, and, of course, performing. The sheer joy of music-making can feed the soul of a school community, enriching each student while strengthening the shared bonds of support and trust which make a great school.

There is an expectation that music is for all – this includes children with SEND.

We aim to provide a vibrant and cohesive curriculum that instils a lifelong love for music, collaboration, performance and creativity in all our students

Our curriculum exposes students to a wide range of musical styles and traditions, particularly celebrating cultural diversity within music and performing arts.

We recognise that many students arrive at Walthamstow Academy with few musical reference points, and little experience in performance. Our curriculum aims to foster self confidence in these students through developing their musical fluency and creative expression. At the same time, our curriculum stretches and challenges experienced musicians. Thus, every student is a musician and experiences performing as part of an ensemble.

We teach music through performance and listening primarily, but students also learn the key tenets of musical theory by considering harmony, rhythm and melody throughout their lessons. Our three strands of: listening/appraising, composing and performing give every student a pathway to progress through musical learning.

Our curriculum uses modern music technology heavily, giving all students experience of this equipment and the potential is possesses to unlock creativity

University and Careers

Having gained GCSE Music, our students are ready and able to explore music studies at a higher level and to progress on to careers in this industry if they wish. We take care to introduce careers within the music industry as a whole, pointing out to students that there are a range of options being a musician. For example, one of our students in recent years studied music at BTEC level in a local college and the went on to a career in events management.

Music Curriculum Journey

The Music Team

• Mr Ben Mullon - Head of Music

For more information on our curriculum, please email Ben.Mullon@walthamstow-academy.org for a copy of our department curriculum handbook.

Music Facilities

We are very proud of our purpose built state of the art music facilities, the entire music department is fully air conditioned.

Instrumental Programme

At Walthamstow Academy we believe that every child should have access to affordable music lessons on their choice of instrument.

Our programme runs on 10 weekly, twenty minute lessons per term. The option to share lessons with a student of similar ability further reduces the cost. All of our instrumental teachers are fully DBS checked and quality assured.

Lessons operate during the Academy day on a carousel system which avoids students continually missing the same subject lessons. Please see the staffing list above for the range of instruments on offer. A subsidy is available for students entitled to 'pupil premium' funding.