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Mr HydenHead of Music

The Music Department are a passionate, experienced and enthusiastic team of individuals who combine their range of experiences to offer an engaging and enriching curriculum. As a team, we are dedicated to enriching the lives of the students and rigorously ensure lessons spark interest, develop knowledge and challenge students to achieve their full potential. Students are challenged in all lessons to be able to demonstrate understanding and creativity through listening, performance, composition, through collaboration with their peers and through evaluation of their work. 

The Head of Department is Steve Hyden who joined the Wilnecote School in 2014. He has taught music from Primary through to A Level, worked as a music therapist and spent 10 years working in the media as music programmer and content advisor for several radio stations across the country as well as broadcasting in radio and TV.

Music at The Wilnecote School is a creative, practical subject, which provides opportunities for our students to develop a broad range of subject knowledge, skills and understanding. As well as consistently guiding students to excellent music results in GCSE and as Music Practitioners, the Music Department provides many opportunities for students to perform and share their talents with the school, parents and carers and the wider community, this builds on their performance skills and also helps to develop their confidence and understanding as musicians.

We value a calm, purposeful atmosphere within the department, and have high expectations that students should enjoy working to the best of their abilities.

The Music Department consists of two large equipped classrooms and a third classroom housing a set of computers and laptops running the Cubase composing software. In addition, there are several practice rooms as well as a recording suite. All students have access to keyboards, ukuleles and a range of percussion instruments as well as a range of acoustic instruments and professional recording equipment. As well as the Head of the Music, there is one other teacher as well as a team of peripatetic teachers of voice, brass, strings, woodwind, piano, guitar and drums, all are supported by a music technician throughout the week.

We deliver a huge range of activities beyond the classroom that range from visits to concerts, residential stays and the opportunity to learn any orchestral instrument; we have also developed close links with local groups, churches and feeder primary/junior schools. The wide range of ensembles that students can partake in enriches our curriculum and their high standard gives students the opportunity to develop as musicians and perform in situations that give them lifelong experiences.

We have a healthy uptake of music at GCSE and our instrumental tuition is becoming more successful with many students continuing to learn an instrument throughout their time at school.

We believe that students deserve a broad and ambitious music curriculum, rich in skills and knowledge. Our curriculum will give students the opportunity to:

  • Develop a thorough understanding of music, through performing, composing, listening and analysing.
  • Develop self-confidence through performance, both through lessons and extra-curricular participation.
  • Encourage creativity through composition skills.
  • Understand the complexities of music through analysis of a wide range of genres from different musical and cultural perspectives.
  • Encourage personal development through ensemble performances and group compositions.
  • Understand how music can support the development of life skills, such as confidence, self-awareness, perseverance and discipline.
  • Develop their cross-curricular skills of problem solving, perseverance, diligence, teamwork, time management, responsibility and cultural history.

The department was delighted to receive the ‘Excellence in Music’ Gold Award from the Music Partnership. The Partnership is a group of the region’s leading quality music education providers. They receive funding from the DofE via the Arts Council England to deliver the National Plan for Music Education. The Partnership covers the local authority areas of Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent and Telford & Wrekin. The award lasts for three years before re-inspection.

Vision for Music at The Wilnecote School

 

We aim to create the very best musicians. We do this through quality teaching which challenges our students to not only understand different styles and genres of music but requires them to explore, discuss and demonstrate this understanding in creative ways. They are challenged in all lessons to be able to demonstrate understanding through performance, composition, through collaboration with their peers and through evaluation of their own work. 

At KS3, music is about providing an opportunity to learn new skills and primarily to enjoy the subject. We aim to provide every student with the opportunity to learn at their own pace and develop their skills as a musician through listening, composition and performance in curriculum time and if they so wish, in instrumental lessons and ensembles 

In assessment, we aim not just to assess formatively at the end of each unit, but provide an opportunity for performance and to demonstrate creativity. Assessment in music is continuous and takes place through all of our units. The assessments at the end of each unit give students the opportunity to see how they are progressing and what they need to do to improve their skills as an all-round musician. Within this assessment, we also focus on the skills necessary to work and succeed at GCSE level and show correlation between the tasks and skills at KS3 and those required at KS4.

We aim to make music accessible for all and differentiation is key to this in lessons. We aim to provide a level of teaching which caters for the needs of all learners and supports those who are at any point in their musical journey.

Sequenced knowledge is a key part of our teaching and the natural steps we take through learning music reflect those that are used in the learning of a musical instrument. Our units relate closely to each other and progress from one to the next by building on prior knowledge and expanding key concepts.

We will work hard in music to promote strong British values that inform student’s attitudes and behaviours on lesson-by-lesson, but also longer-term basis.

We expect and encourage students to use key musical terminology within their work.

We support disadvantaged students through the funding of instrumental lessons where required.

Through high expectations in all lessons, we aim to promote good learning habits and encourage concentration, focus and hard work.

Learning Journey