So after much deliberating over the summer I have finally decided to ditch the formal centre tables in our large music classroom. Admittedly I had reservations, most of which revolved around managing note taking in listening lessons at key stage 4 and 5. But in the end the benefits of the new layout far outweighed them.
The final moment of clarity for me came when I thought about the new year 7 intake and the first impression I wanted to give them of our department. I did not want our classroom to say ‘find a seat, put your bag on the floor and write the date in your book’,. Instead I wanted it to say ‘in this room, we make music.’ And so our tables have been put to the sides, the keyboards were laid out and I am armed with clapping games and songs as starter activities. Tomorrow the room gets a solid test of constant key stage 3 classes with a mission to make music from the outset.