Music          

Intent

The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music
• Be taught to sing, create and compose music
• Understand and explore how music is created, produced, and communicated.

At St Paul’s, the intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions and musical genres. We are committed to developing curiosity and enthusiasm for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any persons’ life. We aim to help children in understanding the value and importance of music in the wider community, and to ensure that they are able to use their musical sills, knowledge and experiences to involve themselves in music in a variety of different contexts. In this way they will develop skills that will inspire them to think critically and creatively, not just in the music classroom, but across all aspects of life.

Implementation

Our music curriculum ensures that students listen, sing, play perform and evaluate. This is embedded in classroom activities as well our weekly Singing Worships, various concerts, productions and performance opportunities and the learning of instruments. These also add to our cultural capital experiences combined with performances from professionals locally and nationally. The elements of music are taught in our classroom lessons so that children are able to use some of the language of music to unpick it, and understand how it is produced, played, appreciated, and analysed. In the classroom students learn how to play a range of percussion instruments, tuned and untuned. There are opportunities for those receiving individual music lessons to bring their knowledge to classroom lessons. With this learning, they are gaining knowledge of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose by focussing on different dimensions of music. This feeds their understanding when listening to, playing or analysing music.

We encourage singing and listening to music regularly in and out of the classroom, aside from within music lessons. For example, as part of learning a spelling rule, learning sayings in French and as relaxation tool during wellbeing sessions. Music of the Week features as part of our daily offer of Collective Worship whereby children listen, take note and respond to it. We sing a variety of songs during Collective Worship, with an emphasis on key religious points of the year and children’s spiritual and moral development.

Our music curriculum is implemented across the school by Charanga, Somerset Music Service and BBC Ten Pieces all supporting our teaching staff.

Impact

Whilst at St Paul’s, children have access to a varied musical programme, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas that they might like to improve upon. They are able to access fundamental abilities such as achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Children have the opportunity to discuss and share their own thought, opinions and ideas, acknowledging and respecting that these may vary and that this is positive. Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose – either as a listener, performer or creator. Importantly, in the society we live in today, they can use music as an escape and as a means to relax. They can unpick music and comprehend its parts, they can sign and feel a pulse, and they have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop an interest in their lives. They are aware of how music can be an integral part of other school themes, such as mindfulness, growth mind-set and British values, through staff modelling and selection of musical choices integrated across the curriculum

Music School Policy

Music National Curriculum

St Paul's Curriculum Tracker

Progression of Skills