Music
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Our Vision for Music at Primrose Lane
Our music curriculum aims to instil a lifelong love of music in our students and nurture their musical talents. By encouraging creativity through composition and improvisation, we empower children to express themselves artistically and develop their unique musical voices. We set high expectations for our students, supporting them to become confident and accomplished musicians who can perform with skill and passion. By providing a comprehensive music education that fosters a love of music and encourages students to perform and create, we use music to contribute to pupils' wider personal development. Our intent is to provide students with a well-rounded musical experience that not only develops their technical skills but also nurtures their creativity, confidence, and self-expression.
At Primrose Lane Primary School, we have developed a Self-Developed music curriculum that reflects our strong music ethos and commitment to providing a wide range of opportunities for our students to engage with music. Our curriculum is designed to be broad, balanced and progressive, ensuring that all children are exposed to a variety of tuned and untuned instruments, with singing at the heart of our musical education. We believe in providing numerous opportunities for our students to perform in front of live audiences, fostering a love of music, and using music as a means of self-expression.
Weekly Music Round-Up
Every week, all pupils receive at least 30 min music lesson every week. In addition to that, here is what is on offer to our pupils:
Monday: Recorder Consort
Singing a song in Whole School Assembly
Tuesday: Woodwind Peripatetic Lessons
Singing Assembly & Live Music
Wednesday:
Thursday: Djembe Peripatetic Lessons
School Choir
Friday: Guitar Peripatetic Lessons
Singing Celebration Songs in Celebration Assembly
What's happening this week in music?
We are proud to announce that our school has been awarded the Music Mark Music Mark of Recognition for Ambition & Quality. This national acknowledgment celebrates schools that demonstrate a strong commitment to providing high-quality music education and fostering a culture of creativity and excellence.
This recognition reflects the dedication of our staff, the enthusiasm of our pupils, and the vibrant musical opportunities we offer — from whole-class instrumental learning to choir, orchestra, and performance opportunities throughout the year.
Music plays a central role in our Primrose Lane school community, and we are delighted to be recognised for our ambition to inspire every child to find their voice through music.
Year 5 Performance
Year 5 have been exploring the Charanga project Ghost Parade, and what an impressive musical journey it has been! The glockenspiel parts were quite challenging, featuring layered rhythms and some tricky syncopation, but the children approached them with determination and resilience. They supported each other beautifully, giving tips, keeping in time, and ensuring the ensemble stayed tight — true teamwork in action.
Their singing was equally outstanding. They demonstrated excellent breath control, clear diction, and dynamic contrast, blending their voices to create a rich, balanced sound. The class experimented with phrasing and expression, really bringing the spooky, playful mood of the piece to life.
It was fantastic to see them combining instrumental and vocal work so confidently, listening critically to each other and adjusting to improve the overall performance. This project has not only strengthened their technical skills but also their musical confidence, creativity, and collaborative spirit — a truly fab achievement all round!
Music Lesson News
Exciting news to start the new school year - the numbers are in and they prove yet again that music truly is at the heart of life at Primrose Lane! We have had a wonderful take up of percussion, guitar and woodwind lessons! I am already looking forward to our Christmas performances and concerts later in the year. Watch this space for more updates...
End of 2024-25
Year 6 Leavers’ Song – Time to Leave
About an hour before they left Primrose Lane for the final time, Year 6 performed their leavers’ song, Time to Leave, one last time. The pupils created the whole piece themselves – from the chord progression and melody to the harmonies and heartfelt lyrics.
Year 6 have always embraced music – whether singing, composing or performing together – and their love for it shone through in this final performance. It was a reminder of the power of music to bring people together, to celebrate shared experiences and to capture memories in a way that words alone cannot. Their performance was full of energy, enthusiasm and emotion, a wonderful way to celebrate their time at Primrose Lane and to mark the beginning of their next adventure.
Celebrating Music at Primrose Lane!
It’s been a truly exciting time for music at Primrose Lane, with several major milestones to share and celebrate!
We are incredibly proud to announce that we have been awarded ArtForms Music Champion School status for 2025. This prestigious recognition is awarded to schools that have made a significant impact on pupils’ lives through music and have shown an outstanding commitment to music education. We’re thrilled that our dedication to nurturing musical talent and enthusiasm in our pupils has been acknowledged in this way. Thank you to all our staff, pupils and parents who continue to support our growing music provision!
Adding to the excitement, Primrose Lane was hand-selected to take part in the 'Count Me In' pilot project – a groundbreaking new programme that links music and maths in a fun and inspiring way for Key Stage 2 pupils. Created by presenter and composer Tim Redmond for the Leeds International Piano Competition, and featuring the incredible pianist Alexandra Dariescu, this unique initiative uses sing-along songs, stunning piano performances, and engaging storytelling to explore the magical connections between music and mathematics. We're delighted to be one of the few schools involved in bringing this vibrant educational experience to life. Find out more here.
As part of our ongoing commitment to music education, I was honoured to speak at this year’s Leeds Primary Music Leaders Conference. It was a privilege to share the music curriculum model we use at Primrose Lane, highlighting everything from our whole-class instrumental teaching and Live Music slots in singing assemblies, to the many performance opportunities our pupils enjoy. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate what makes our music provision so special and to connect with other passionate music educators across the city.
And finally, don’t miss our Summer Concert on Monday 7th July at 2pm! With performances from across the school, it's set to be a brilliant afternoon showcasing the talent, energy and joy of our young musicians. We can't wait to see you there!
Performance
We are incredibly proud of the music-making in Year 3 and Year 4. Year 3 delighted us with their joyful performance of Three Little Birds, featuring fabulous singing and beautifully harmonised glockenspiel playing. Year 4 impressed with their thoughtful rendition of Blackbird by The Beatles, with clear vocals, excellent glockenspiel work, and real focus. Both performances showed great teamwork, musical skill, and a genuine enjoyment of performing—well done to all!
Recorder Club
In recorder club we have been playing along with some of our favourite songs - have a try at home!
The Spring Concert was a huge success - thank you so much to all our performers!
From the newsletter:
It was such a pleasure to see so much musical talent on
display from our pupils. Not only did they perform with
confidence, but they also demonstrated impeccable
behaviour while watching their peers take the stage.
I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Crowther
for putting together this enjoyable performance.
It is always a joy to witness our pupils' hard work and
passion for the arts. Events like the Spring Concert
showcase the well-rounded education we strive to provide
at Primrose Lane.
Thank you for your continued support of our school's music
programme. We are fortunate to have such an engaged
and supportive community of families.
Music at Primrose Lane
- Our music specialist teaches music in Years 2,3,4 and 5. Other classes have music lessons with their class teachers.;
- Every Tuesday we have a whole school Singing Assembly;
- To start the Singing Assemblies, we have a ‘Live Music’ slot where instrumentalists have an opportunity to perform. This inspires and entertains the other children and is a wonderful opportunity to play a piece that is ready. We have already heard pupils play electric guitar, flutes, djembe and clarinets - needless to say, the crowd went wild! Please encourage your child to chat to Mrs Crowther or their class teacher if they want to perform in a relaxed environment (with a very forgiving audience) on a Tuesday;
- KS2 Choir meets every week on Thursdays. There are no auditions, all are welcome. We will be working on modern ‘pop’ songs as well as more traditional choral music for children, aiming to develop 2 and 3 part singing and confidence. Please have a think at home about whether or not your child(ren) would like to join – we’ll have lots of fun!
- Recorder Consort meet on Monday Lunchtimes at 12:45;
- Practise – if your child learns an instrument (in or out of school), they are allowed to bring in their instruments to practise together at break or lunchtime in the KS2 area. Mrs Crowther is also around so if anyone needs help tuning instruments for advice on musical issues e.g tricky rhythms etc. or just someone to perform to, she is there;
- Our peripatetic music lessons have started already! We welcome back Mrs Hedington, who is teaching flute, saxophone, clarinet and oboe on Wednesdays. A warm welcome to Mr Jarman who is new to school; he will be teaching guitar on Fridays and Mr Nunn who teaches percussion on Thursdays. I can’t wait to hear the instrumentalists perform in our concerts and Live Music sessions throughout the year. If you have any questions about woodwind or percussion lessons, please contact Mrs Glew in the school office for more information;
- Whole class music lessons are part of the new music curriculum. In Year 2 and Year 3, pupils receive whole class recorder lessons, in Year 4 pupils have whole class ukulele lessons and in Years 5 and 6, pupils have a half term on recorder and on ukulele to keep those skills sharp. Then, pupils are able to move on to woodwind tuition and guitar tuition if they please to develop further.
- As we progress through our new long term plan for music, we will continue with half a term of recorder teaching and half a term of ukulele teaching in Years 5 and 5 and 6 so that when pupils leave us, they will be able to read music and be quite confident playing 2 instruments. Hopefully they will have fostered a life-long love of music!
- We will hold a KS2 Music Concert at the end of each term. These concerts are for pupils who have instrumental lessons in our out of school and the school choir. If your child’s piece needs a piano accompaniment, please give it to Mrs Crowther in time for her to practise with your child;
- There will, of course, be ‘usual’ key events throughout the year such as the Nativity, Carol Service and Summer Production, details of which will be provided nearer the time;
- There is also lots of ‘incidental’ singing going on in classes to aid learning e.g. singing times tables songs.
If you have any questions about peripatetic music lessons, the contact is Mrs Glew in the office, any other music questions, please ask Mrs Crowther - feel free to email on crowtherh@primroselane.leeds.sch.uk . We look forward to a year of wonderful music-making and performances!
Artforms is the name of our wonderful Music Hub. If you want to know more about music-making in our area or what is on offer city-wide, click on the link and check out their website or contact them direct with any queries:
E: educ.artforms@leeds.gov.uk
Tel: 0113 3782850
ArtForms Music
Pudsey Civic Hall
Dawson’s Corner
Pudsey
LS28 5TA
Here is our report from the Champion School Review. They are due to assess us again this academic year, and we look forward to sharing what we have been up to!
