Music
Music plays a very important part in the life of the school. Many children in Key Stage 2 learn to play the recorder and pupils may choose to learn a woodwind or brass instrument with the Music for Schools Foundation. There is a school choir and the whole school regularly take part in festivals, concerts and productions.
Every year, we take our Year 5 and 6 pupils to Chipping Norton Music Festival, to participate in a schools' workshop and concert. In 2024, we were delighted to join other schools in the Chipping Norton Town Hall to learn and perform a varied repertoire of songs old and new, including some sea shanties.
Our pupils also have opportunities to attend workshops and concerts organised by the County Music Service. On one occasion, the KS1 children were lucky enough to be joined by author Julia Donaldson and her husband for a morning of singing based on her popular picture books.
In previous years children in years 5 and 6 have been to the Royal Albert Hall as part of the ‘Oxfordshire Massed Choir’. Being accompanied by the Oxfordshire Youth Orchestra plus a chamber choir, and singing on stage in the Royal Albert Hall really is a musical experience second-to-none.
Every year the school holds a "Musical Extravaganza" where any children who learn musical instruments or have professional vocal coaching are invited to perform to an audience of friends and parents. This year we enjoyed performances from the school choir, recorder groups and many individual performers aged from 7 to 11 years.
We are proud to celebrate the musical achievements of our pupils and were delighted to be awarded Music Mark, in recognition of our commitment to musical education. In our July 2022 Ofsted report, inspectors commented:
"Music is the beating heart of Enstone."