It has become increasingly important to offer our children a range of experiences, opportunities within school that they may not access outside of the setting. We want to inspire children to create, experience and participate in a broad curriculum which encompasses arts and culture, exposes children to different cultures and develops cultural literacy. We believe that memorable learning experiences provide the stimulus and motivation for subjects across the curriculum.

Our Music curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of instruments and resources. These skills include: performing, understanding musical notation, developing their fluency when playing an instrument, using technical vocabulary when appraising and identifying a range of genres and their characteristics.

Children will be introduced to a range of composers and gain an understanding of the style and musical features of the time period and use this as inspiration to compose and perform their own pieces of music. In addition, our music curriculum is progressive and allows children to enhance their musical skills and vocabulary as they progress through the school whilst learning to play a range of instruments and notation.
 

The skills they acquire allow children to practise their music skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, by studying historical music and using it as inspiration for their own, researching famous composers and enhancing their understanding of search engines in computing or using music during English lessons to help inspire a piece of writing. It is paramount that music work be purposeful; be this as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other composers and artists that inspire our own work. Pupils should be clear what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this.

In Music, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular task.

Our music curriculum is taught through:

• High quality teaching - staff have high expectations of all children.
• Key learning and specific key vocabulary to add to their ever-growing repertoire.
• Imparting knowledge accurately.
• Providing constructive feedback to children.

We also:

• Celebrate the pupils’ music and performances in their class, around the school and on the school website.
• Organise experts and outside visitors to lead workshops and /or assemblies to inspire and motivate the children.
• Take part in music competitions to develop the children’s confidence and love of music.
• Hold a weekly singing assembly which allows the children opportunities to develop their singing skills.
• Organise performances, such as Christmas plays and nativities and end of year shows, demonstrating that music is important to the life of the school.
• Provide opportunities for children to participate in extracurricular activities, such as choir and peripatetic music lessons.