Music

Intent

 We offer an inclusive music curriculum which combines knowledge of music and composers with global genres and artists to increase children’s cultural capital and appreciation for different types of music. Music should be an enjoyable experience for pupils and teachers. Children participate in a range of musical experiences, building up their confidence at the same time. They develop their understanding of rhythm and pitch and learn how music is structured, as well as learning technical vocabulary for these elements. As children’s confidence builds, they enjoy the performance aspect of music. Children experience listening to music from different cultures and eras. Children should be able to appraise music, giving their opinions and using technical vocabulary in answers. Children should be able to compose, record and evaluate pieces of music and use self and peer reflection to improve their musical knowledge and ability. Children should be offered a wide range of opportunities to perform, both in and out of the classroom and they should be exposed to live and recorded music.

The aims of teaching music in our school are to develop pupils who:

 • Can confidently perform either singing or skilfully playing an instrument, either solo or as part of a group.

 • Can compose and create song with verses and chorus and create rhythmic patterns and an awareness of timbre and duration; digital technology may be used to compose, edit and refine pieces of music.

• Are able to transcribe and use standard musical notation and read and create notes on the musical stave.

 • Can describe music, using a wide range of musical vocabulary to accurately describe and appraise.

Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers

At St Margaret Mary our aims are:

• To ensure full entitlement and access to high quality education within a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum;

• To identify barriers to learning as early as possible;

• To reach high levels of achievement for all so that children can reach their full potential;

• To meet individual needs through a wide range of provision, providing differentiation that aims to remove any barriers to learning;

• Where children are underachieving and/or identified as having special educational needs, the school provides for these additional needs in a variety of ways and might use a combination of these approaches to address targets identified for individual pupils:

• High quality teaching is our first step in responding to pupils who have SEN. This will be differentiated for individual pupils.

• Other small group work;

• Class  and individual support where possible;

• Further differentiation of resources.

Any children with identified SEND, have an EHCP or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs. As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.

Implementation

We have developed our own Charanga Scheme using Charanga’s scheme for the Model Music Curriculum, Charanga instrument modules and Cornerstones modules which follows a differentiated, spiral approach to musical learning which responds to the national requirements for musical education. Within each unit of learning, students revisit existing knowledge and skills and then build upon and extend them incrementally. In this manner, learning is consolidated and augmented, allowing for increasing musical confidence, while constantly being gently challenged to go further. Each unit comes with a knowledge organizer which lays out the knowledge needed for that unit, key vocabulary and the skills children will be learning in the unit.

In EYFS, music is taught as part of the units in the Cornerstones Curriculum and has a focus on singing, playing percussion instruments and discussing music in line with the EYFS development matters programme and supporting children to ultimately achieve the Early Learning Goals of; ‘Being Imaginative and Expressive’, ‘Gross Motor Skills’, ‘Speaking’ and ‘Listening, attention and understanding’.

In KS1 and KS2 music is taught as a discrete subject our own Charanga Scheme. Each year group have the opportunity to learn an instrument with learning recapped in the next year group. In Year 1, instrumentation is focused on singing and they are introduced to the glockenspiel. In Year 2, singing is still important but they have more of a focus on the glockenspiel. In Year 3, singing and glockenspiel continue and they are introduced to the recorder. In Year 4, singing and glockenspiel continue with a more in-depth study of recorder. In Year 5 singing, glockenspiel and recorder continue with an introduction to the Ukulele. In Year 6, children have a more in-depth study of the Ukulele and are expected to be able to play all instruments studied with confidence.

The Charanga Scheme covers Years 1-6 with six self-sufficient units per year. Each unit is in turn structured into six steps which can be covered as a flexible approach. The first step of each unit introduces that unit’s focus in terms of content, skills and knowledge; this is then developed by the middle steps; and a final sixth step assesses the learning through exciting performances and activities.

At the centre of each step - each lesson - is a song around which the musical learning is centred. Each lesson has an easy-to-follow structure - complemented by a rich array of supporting documents, lesson plans and resources.

We have developed our own scheme where we have incorporated some units to link with the Cornerstones Curriculum and enhance that knowledge. For example, Y1 study a Cornerstones unit covered on the Victorians so during this unit, children will study music from the Classical and Romantic period.

The teaching of Music also appears across the curriculum in different areas of study. Areas of learning, such as times tables in maths, vocabulary in languages and movement in dance can all incorporate different elements of music. A weekly hymn assembly allows the children opportunities to develop their singing skills and gain an understanding of how ensembles work. Performances, such as Christmas plays and nativities and end of year shows, Carlisle Music and Drama Festival, the Shakespeare Schools Festival, Masses, Young Voices and singing in the community demonstrate that music is important to the life of the school. Extracurricular activities, such as choir, ukulele club and peripatetic music lessons, also provide children with experience of making music.

Impact

The impact of teaching music will be seen across the school with an increase in the profile of music. Whole-school and parental engagement will be improved through performances, extracurricular activities and opportunities suggested in lessons/overviews for wider learning. Participation in music develops wellbeing, promotes listening and develops concentration. Children will be able to respond with articulation to different genres and types of music, using musical vocabulary to explain their answers. Children will be able to use ICT from Year 2 to develop compositions and recordings. Children will be confident in developing self and peer reflection on pieces in order to improve musical knowledge and understanding. Children will be well versed in different genres of music that represent different cultures in our school, parish, local and global community. We want to ensure that music is loved by teachers and pupils across school, encouraging them to want to continue building on this wealth of musical ability, now and in the future. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary throughout- Spiral curriculum.

• Summative teacher assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.

• Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.

• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).

• Moderation Cluster meetings where pupil’s work is scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their children’s work.

• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.

• Marking of listening activities in books.

. Self and peer reviews on composition’s and performances. This is mostly done verbally.