All students at Ratton have Music lessons as a regular part of their curriculum at Key Stage 3, during which time a variety of projects are studied, from Classical Music, Blues and Jazz through to Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop and Dance music. There are many opportunities for practical music-making during lesson time, using percussion instruments, keyboards, ukuleles and our newly- acquired class set of iPads.
Music is available as an option subject at Key Stage 4, both as a BTEC and GCSE qualification. The BTEC gives students the opportunity to develop vocational skills ready for the world of work alongside studying units such as DJing, Performing and Music Sequencing. The Music GCSE focuses on performing, composing and listening preparing students for the study of Music at A-level.
Subject Leadership: Mr R Kearsey, Curriculum Leader
Niki Smith, Music Teacher.
Dave Brinson, Music Teacher.
Facilities: In the Music department there are two fully-equipped classrooms with keyboards, glockenspiels, xylophones and ukuleles.
One of the classrooms also has computers with music software, such as Cubase and Virtual DJ and the other classroom has a class set of iPads with programmes such as Garageband.
Within the department we also have three practice rooms, guitars, drum kits, an electric drum kit, recording facilities and two sets of DJ decks. Practice rooms can be booked out at lunch for students to rehearse.