Moorlands Primary School hits right note for Ofsted

Feb 6 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Moorlands Primary School, Mount, offers outstanding music provision in spite of Ofsted inspectors’ critical national report

MUSIC provision at a Huddersfield school has been applauded by Government inspectors.

Moorlands Primary School, Mount, was classed as “outstanding’’ by Ofsted inspectors in their report Making More of Music.

Ann Walker, headteacher at Moorlands said: “Music pervades the whole curriculum and a large percentage of our pupils either play an instrument in school or take private lessons.

“We have a choir, recorder group and use ICT to ensure music is accessible to all.”

Moorlands is the largest primary school in Kirklees with 600 pupils.

Ofsted inspectors said, in their national report, that music had a positive impact on pupils’ personal development as well as musical ability.

But the inspectors found that schools were not using the powerful tool to its best advantage and that funding needed to be better targeted.

The report pointed out that the main weaknesses in both primary and secondary schools was that students did not always make as much progress as they should do – largely due to teachers’ lack of understanding about what was musical progress, inconsistent opportunities and weak assessment.

Inspectors also found that music teachers were professionally isolated.

Christine Gilbert, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, said: “Schools need to review their provision regularly to make the most of music.