Intent

Implementation

Impact

As a school, we provide a high-quality music education that engages, inspires and challenges children to develop a love of music.  Opportunities are given for children with specific musical talents to showcase their skills and to extend their musical understanding.  This is achieved both in lessons, with lessons tailored to children’s specific musical skills, and as part of extra-curricular learning. In so doing, children increase their creativity and sense of achievement.

Across the primary range the children build skills based upon prior knowledge ensuring clear progression.  The curriculum is based on the Model Music Curriculum Objectives to ensure a broad, balanced and progressive teaching programme. Children are able to explore musical ideas, compose, improvise, perform and evaluate with specific listening questions and foci.  Children learn about the interrelated dimensions of music including pitch, tempo, dynamics, beat, rhythm, structure, tempo and timbre.  They learn musical vocabulary and are given opportunities to appreciate and develop an understanding of a wide range of music from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.

Music is linked to the learning foci in classes where appropriate or may be separate when specific musical skills are taught.

We review and update the music curriculum to ensure it is relevant to the children and that they continue to develop their knowledge and skills. This is done against the Model Music Curriculum skills to ensure children continue to build their musical understanding.

Children are given the opportunity to learn an instrument in a whole class and then are able to perform.  Singing is celebrated and children perform in a range of spaces including The Forum, The Bath Pavillion and as part of vocal festivals.

Individual/group instrumental tuition is also available and provided by Red Music and Rock Steady.

There is an extra curricular school choir who perform in various contexts and as part of our celebrations.  Close relationships are fostered with the church and children perform to the community and as part of community services.

Our curriculum encompasses the National Curriculum requirements to ensure all aspects, knowledge and skills of Music are being taught across all year groups.  The Model Music Curriculum objectives are used to ensure that children can build on previous learning and also repeat skills to embed them.

In EYFS children are taught by an HLTA who uses the provocations in the curriculum and Early Learning Goals, as well as the children’s interests to inform the songs and music they listen to and learn about. Children are taught curriculum music in their own classrooms by the specialist music teacher.  In addition to our timetabled curriculum music sessions, there are other enrichment opportunities in our music education programme.  Where appropriate, music activities are linked to topics, using the progression of skills document.  However, where it is more appropriate, discrete skills are taught using a range of music from different periods in history and cultures.

Assessment for learning is used to assess children’s understanding at various points of the lesson and used to help plan next steps.  Regular recordings are taken of the children’s performance and photographs are taken of their learning.  This is then assessed against the Model Music Curriculum Objectives for that year group.

Weekly singing practises are based around building singing skills, techniques and reinforce the schools termly themes as well as those linked to the church. 

Challenge and support is given where necessary to ensure that all children achieve their full potential in music.  Instrumentalists are encouraged to use their own instruments for composition and performance. A range of tuned and untuned musical instruments are used in each music lesson to give children opportunities to compose and explore concepts such as timbre and pitch.

Each unit of work builds upon previous learning, recapping key skills and vocabulary.

Through discussion and engagement in lessons, children demonstrate a passion for music and an increasing understanding of both knowledge, skills and musical vocabulary.  This includes reading musical notation in the form of rhythm grids and patterns or pitched notation.

As the children move through the school, they explore, create, improvise, perform and evaluate with increasing confidence and are linking periods in history noticing the similarities and influences of different instrumentalists and genres.

Assessment is used at key points of each year to track progress and attainment throughout the school.

Evidence of work (music folders, recordings, displays, performances and discussions in class) shows secure knowledge and skill coverage and development, with cross-curriculum links.

Subject Leader and SLT monitor the subject by looking at work, displays and by talking with children and staff.  The school works closely with the church to provide opportunities for shared worship, performances and community links. Themes are developed alongside the church in order that links are further reinforced.  A worship team attends the community services sharing songs that they have learnt in school. 

An annual standards report is written to review the effectiveness of the curriculum. This informs governors, and is the basis of future staff development.

Contribution to cultural capital: The knowledge that children build up will provide a secure basis in ‘cultural capital’.