Music and singing are integral to the cultural and spiritual life of Sacred Heart School in Wadhurst. As a Catholic school, masses and school liturgies include beautiful hymns. This community singing is a wonderful bonding experience for the children and teachers alike.
Sacred Heart School has a thriving and busy music department, offering much musical tuition. The school’s class music specialist and head of department leads a dedicated team of peripatetic specialist music teachers offering violin, guitar, ukelele, piano, singing, recorder, flute, clarinet and saxophone tuition.
Musical skill development takes time and is best and most easily learnt when we are young. The great challenge for music teachers, therefore, is to impart a love and a willingness in the child to commit to a practicing routine so as to enable a core musical skill set to bed down and grow.
To this end, Sacred Heart has developed their very own “10-a-day” campaign. The little and often approach. Every child who learns an instrument is encouraged to commit to 10 minutes a day of music practice. The habit and discipline of playing one’s instrument – of tinkering and messing around, using our bodies to create music and melody – lies at the heart of developing an enjoyment and appreciation for the skill and habit of daily music practice.
Playing instruments is as important as Sacred Heart’s daily reading commitment. The children learn that practising happens when they simply spend time PLAYING their instruments. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle: when they mess around and experiment on their instruments, they are LEARNING, solving problems, teaching themselves mindfulness, boosting fine and gross motor skills, improving cognition and memory skills and expressing themselves in a creative, individual manner. The benefits spill out far beyond the music room…
In terms of performance and showcasing, Sacred Heart has regular concerts and music evenings throughout the year, and the children also perform on their instruments in assemblies. The school also puts on two musicals, with a live band, every year – in the Spring Term for Y3 and Y4, and a bigger Y5 and Y6 production in the Summer Term.
Externally, the school also participates in the annual Tunbridge Wells Arts Festival in March, with a significant number of children singing and performing on their instruments and in the choir classes.
sacredheartwadhurst.org.uk
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