Nord Anglia Education
WRITTEN BY
St Andrews Bangkok
12 November, 2021

Primary School Music: Why we sing at St Andrews!

Singing Photos06
icon quote
Children love singing at STA and are engaged and enthusiastic in singing lessons. It's wonderful to see them leave the sessions energised and happy!
Ms Marie
Head of Primary Music
Primary School Music: Why we sing at St Andrews! Each week, from Foundation Stage 3 to Year 6, children enthusiastically take part in a Year Group singing session. Whether it's in person or through the Virtual School Experience it is fantastic to see so many children joining in with actions and movement - as well as having a lot of fun! Hero Image Singing02

Each week, from FS3 to Year 6, children enthusiastically take part in a Year Group singing session. Whether it's live in person or through the Virtual School Experience it is fantastic to see so many children joining in with actions and movement - as well as having a lot of fun! 

The many proven benefits of singing, include: 

 

  1. Making you feel better. 

  2. Boosting your confidence.

  3. Enhancing lung function. 

  4. Helping you beat stress and relax. 

  5. Improving your memory.

  6. Builds a sense of community. 

  7. Letting you express yourself. 

  8. Can help with pain relief.

English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners benefit by

 

  1. Improving listening skills
  2. Improving pronunciation
  3. Learning vocabulary and sentence structure
  4. Repetitive patterns help with vocabulary and memory

What does a singing lesson at STA look like? 

 

  1. During our weekly singing sessions, we begin with a fun and inclusive warm-up game. This helps us get in the right mindset for singing. 

  2. After we are warmed up and ready to sing we begin learning the songs. The songs we sing are often linked to our learning topics for the Term. 

  3. We use an array of engaging teaching styles and activities to make every singing session a special one. 

  4. Most importantly, at the end of the lesson, we reflect on what we have learnt and look forward to the next lesson.

What have we been singing?

 

Foundation Stage 

The children begin their singing sessions, joining in with lots of fun movement and everyday songs. This is a great way to start learning vocabulary and sentence structures! It's lovely to see the children learning so many songs, moving to the music and experiencing the beat. 

Year 1

In Term 1.1. children explored many different songs from Africa in line with their Year Group Topic. The children particularly enjoyed becoming sound detectives in the song "We're Detectives".   The focus now is on Celebrations!

Year 2 

Last term. children were learning about Transport as their Year Group topic. 'On My Way' from the Disney film "Brother Bear" was a catchy tune that captured the imaginations of the Year 2s and fit the theme of Transport.  The children have particularly enjoyed a new movement and vocal warm-up song called 'Animals'. 

Year 3 

Year 3 have loved learning the 'Fruit Salad' song and choosing lots of different fruits to throw into our big fruit salad mash-up.  The children listen to the vocabulary, then add in actions and movements. This worked exceptionally well in the 'Be Healthy' song.  

Year 4 

The Year 4 children were challenged to learn a singing game about chocolate. Yum!  Year 4 also learned and performed a song called 'Who I Am' and paid attention to how to sing it with expression and communicate the meaning of the words as they sing.

Year 5

The children enjoyed singing a song about The Romans and adding some actions for all the different ways we can be like The Romans!   The Year 5 are now busily getting ready for Christmas with some Motown!

Year 6

The children recreated a pop song using only their voices. First, they learned to beatbox a drum part, then added a bass line, created some chords and a trumpet part and finally mashed together four extracts from well-known pop songs to create a new vocal line.  Year 6 are also learning a variety of popular songs for Christmas. 

If you want to find out more information about the many health benefits of singing, please click here
 

Sources