HISTORY

It has been a great start to the term. We have been learning about the Great Depression of the 1930’s and the pupils have been very interested to discover some of the similarities with the current recession. This has been a good vehicle for exploring some cross curricular PSE  – our knowledge about issues affecting the world.

The emphasis has been upon developing an empathy with the difficulties people faced at that time. How did it feel to be a father of 8 children, unable to provide a roof and food for your wife and family because you had been made redundant?

That’s not to say that lessons have been all ‘doom and gloom’ though! This was certainly not the case when pupils were tasked with writing their own Jarrow March Raps, pretending they were on that march and trying to draw attention to their plight. This activity is producing some excellent examples of creative thought and collaborative effort! The songs have been uplifting, amusing and poignant! Percussion instruments, including obligatory marching drum, from the music department have added to the overall effect. Fortunately, given the recent spell of mild weather, it hasn’t been too onerous a task to march around the Junior playground, even in October. Without doubt, everyone thought the best part was being ‘allowed’ to shout at the top of their voices, making as much noise as possible!

ICT

In year 6, the pupils gain a better insight into various software packages, including 'Microsoft Office'. By the end of the year they are able to create effective presentations using PowerPoint and use some of the more advanced features of 'Word', such as inserting and editing tables.

Have you ever wondered what is inside the case of a typical home computer? The children in year 6 have the opportunity to gain insight, by seeing how the various components fit together when they build a class computer, with Mr McMahon.

Religious Education

Music

Kodály Musicianship

Throughout KS2 general musicianship is taught to all pupils. Musicianship activities take place in every lesson throughout the year. Musicianship units run simultaneously with other composition units which encourage the children to use their creative skills.

Methodology

Kodály believed that a musician should have a well trained ear as well as well trained fingers. He realised that rhythm names (ta, te etc.) and solfa (do, re, me etc.) were powerful tools with which to develop musical literacy. He incorporated these into his overall concept, which is world renowned and is called Kodály’s Choral Method.

Kodály identified three stages of learning:

• unconscious experience

• making conscious

• reinforcement

In Kodály based lessons children initially learn by imitation. Over time, what they have assimilated unconsciously is made conscious and children learn by using both appropriate vocabulary to describe their experience and the symbol which represents it.

Kodály learning is structured so that students progress from the simple to the complex in a series of logical steps. The voice is the prime instrument used in Kodály training as singing has a profound effect on a child’s physical, social, emotional and intellectual development and is the most direct way of making a musical response.

Children’s singing games are used throughout the Key Stage which, to begin with, have a small range and simple rhythms. Many of the activities encourage solo singing which is helpful for teacher assessment as well as developing confidence in pupils.

Pupils learn about the theory of music through simple analysis of songs – they identify the rhythms and pitches which make up the songs. Solfa is learned with accompanying handsigns, which provide a physical link with the sound heard and produced. Handsigns are powerful tools in that they can also be used for the pupil to read from, therefore being able to quickly and easily interpret new music as well as recognising known material.

Pupils learn to read and write music initially with stick notation and then moving on to the conventional stave. Stave reading is firstly conducted without a clef so that they learn spatially the positions of the intervals. Eventually pitch names are introduced and pupils can learn to read in various doh positions.

The Voices Foundation is an organisation which promotes Kodály’s methodology in schools. They assist schools through inset teaching teachers how to use Kodály’s methods. They work almost exclusively in England; however, through my own personal Kodály based training I have gained experience in their approaches.

An overview of Kodály /Voices Foundation Methodology

• Finding the singing voice

• Pulse – metre, tempo, phrase

• The elements of rhythm

• Improvising with rhythm

• Reading rhythm – spoken and played

• Writing rhythm

• Simple / compound time

• Understanding pitch

• Reading and writing melody

• Composing melody

• Vocal pitch – makingImprovising vocal melody

• Analysing melody

• Understanding and identifying structure

Children who are taught Kodály thoroughly and systematically become rounded, confident musicians

PHYSICAL EDUCATION & GAMES

At Key Stage 2 our pupils enjoy a full and varied curriculum, which consists of 10 sporting disciplines, including games, gymnastics, outdoor adventurous activities, athletics, personal fitness, dance and swimming each year.

In addition, our extra curricular programme endeavours to further widen and extend pupil opportunity via practice, competitive fixtures and specialised coaching in cricket, hockey, golf and tennis.

With our pupils being taught by specialised P.E. teachers from year 2, we enjoy a smooth transition between the key stages and this provides accelerated learning pathways for our pupils.

We are very proud of our sporting performances within the Junior School, with notable achievements from our junior teams last year; the rugby team retained their Newport Schools’ Championship and our mixed hockey players were runners-up in the Welsh Championships.