Music thrives at St. Francis’ College and we aim to promote and encourage a love and understanding of music across a variety of cultures, genres and periods.
All pupils are given the opportunity to perform in lesson time, in assemblies and as part of the series of concerts. Clearly our Theatre and Chapel are great performance spaces but our music practice rooms and classrooms are also buzzing throughout the day with the sounds of pupils creating their own music and practising. Special events occur every term to stimulate and inspire the pupils and these include masterclasses, composition tutorials, music theatre workshops, World Music Day, Sing Off Challenge and the House Music competition.
We enable our pupils to become confident, creative and independent learners through performing, composing, listening and music technology.
We provide pupils with exciting enrichment activities including choirs, orchestras and chamber ensembles as well as concerts, trips, workshops, productions and a European summer tour.
A brief overview of the curriculum up to A-level
Pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 receive classroom music lessons where they develop performing, composing and listening skills. They explore set works through detailed listening tasks and performances and then use their findings to create their own pieces. A wide variety of styles, genres and cultures are studied including Indonesian Gamelan, Baroque music, Blues and Programme music.
Pupils in Years 10 and 11 can opt to study GCSE Music (Edexcel) and study eight set works. In Year 10, they create many short compositions in preparation for their two coursework compositions. Pupils perform regularly in class and at school events and their performance coursework is a 4 minute recording which includes both solo and ensemble performances.
Sixth form students can choose to study A Level Music (AQA) and focus on Western Classical Music (The Baroque Concerto, Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’ and Romantic Piano music), Jazz Music and Art Music from 1910. They develop their composition skills by composing in various styles including composing a Bach Chorale. Their composition coursework consists of 2 compositions totaling 5 minutes. Pupils have instrumental/vocal lessons and regularly lead ensembles and perform solos in our many concerts. They perform a 10 minute recital which can include solo and ensemble pieces.