Stambridge Primary School
Stambridge Primary School is a proud member of the HEARTS Academy Trust, embodying the Trust’s commitment to excellence in education.
Founded in 1877, the school is located in the village of Rochford, Essex. Although it maintains the charm of a small village school, Stambridge is imbued with significant aspirations and ambitions for its students. Catering for boys and girls from Nursery to Year 6, Stambridge Primary School is nestled off Stambridge Road and boasts an idyllic setting surrounded by the picturesque Essex countryside. The school grounds are extensive, featuring a considerable outdoor area that provides ample space for recreation and learning. These beautiful settings not only enhance the educational experience but also allow children to connect with nature, fostering a sense of well-being and community.
At Stambridge, each child is valued, nurtured, and cared for with utmost dedication. The school’s ethos centres on building meaningful relationships, ensuring that every pupil and their families feel known and appreciated. This nurturing environment cultivates a sense of belonging, promoting emotional and social development alongside academic achievement.
The school’s ambition is to provide the highest quality of education for every child, facilitated through an aspirational HEARTS curriculum that aligns with the fundamental HEARTS values. These values—Happiness, Esteem, Achievement, Respect & Responsibility, Truth, and Service & Spirituality —serve as the guiding principles of the school’s educational philosophy, inspiring pupils to strive for excellence in all endeavours.
Stambridge Primary School is wonderfully welcoming and inclusive, creating an environment where every child can thrive. By fostering individual talents and cultivating a love for learning, the school lays a solid foundation for future success, ensuring that students are well-prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
Our Journey to a Cohesive Music Curriculum
When our Trust set out to strengthen music education across our schools, we knew we needed a platform that could support both specialist and non-specialist teachers while ensuring children made meaningful progress. After careful consideration, we chose Charanga. Its spiral curriculum and ready-to-use resources offered exactly what we needed: a structured approach that allowed children to learn new songs, perform on instruments, improvise, compose, and ultimately become performance-ready. It also supported staff wellbeing by reducing planning workload—a win for everyone.
However, as we began monitoring implementation through pupil voice surveys and staff feedback, a challenge emerged. Teachers were finding it difficult to complete all the musical activities within each lesson. As a result, children were missing out on core elements of musicianship—the very building blocks they need to become confident musicians.
We knew we had to act. Across our six schools—two infant schools and four primaries, ranging from 60 to 350 pupils—we devised a plan that would ensure every child experienced the essential components of music learning. Whether taught by a specialist or a class teacher, the non-negotiables became clear: every child should learn the song, play an instrument, improvise and compose, and perform.
To make this achievable, we created a generic termly plan spanning ten weeks. This flexible structure could be adapted to suit each school’s timetable—whether they had an hour for music or just thirty minutes. In schools with longer sessions, teachers could deepen children’s knowledge, while others could focus on the essentials.
Our vision extended beyond the classroom. Each summer, our Trust comes together at the Brentwood Centre for a music concert—a celebration of learning where children sing, play, and perform to an audience. The termly plan ensures they are ready for this moment, building confidence and joy in music.
Monitoring remains central to our approach. Through pupil voice surveys, interviews, quizzes, and termly visits from the Trust Music Lead, we see music in action and gather insights to refine our practice. Our plans include clear activities, key questions, and vocabulary to help children understand the interrelated dimensions of music.
After a year of implementation, we are ready for the next step. We want children not only to experience music but to read it. To achieve this, we are moving musicianship skills into music assemblies and introducing musical theory into lessons. Using Charanga’s tools—particularly Notepad—we will build a progression document to guide this journey. Our specialist music teacher has already begun incorporating these elements into each unit of work.
This is more than a curriculum—it’s a commitment. A commitment to ensuring every child in our Trust develops the practical skills and theoretical knowledge to become a confident, capable musician. And with Charanga as our partner, we are making that vision a reality.