Curriculum Statement

Music

St Katherine’s Church of England Primary School

At St. Katherine’s Church of England Primary School, we want our children to be naturally curious about the world around them and through this develop a love of music. We aim to develop each child’s spirituality through experiences, reflection and opportunities. In our school vision, we celebrate diversity, as all people are special and equal in God’s sight and interweave our curriculum around the Christian belief and our school vision ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mark 12.31).

It is our intention that we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children, give them possibilities for future learning and open their eyes to the diversity of music. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to understand rhythm and follow a beat. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music. Children develop descriptive language skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent different feelings, emotions and narratives. We also teach technical vocabulary such as volume, pitch, beat and rhythm and encourage children to discuss music using these terms.

Our Music curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key Music learning skills, as set out by the national curriculum.

These are as follows:

Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.
Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.
Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

A music instructor offers individual lessons for piano and signing choir at parent’s request. Also, choirs are offered for children in KS1 and KS2 as extra curricula lunchtime clubs. Other instrumental music lessons will be offered in conjunction with Essex Music Services from September.

Intent:

Our pupils will learn that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. We are aiming to engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and also to develop their talent and possibilities as musicians. In turn their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement will increase. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with the diversity of music, allowing them to compose and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical genres.

Pupils in KS1 are taught to:

use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.
play tuned and untuned instruments musically.
listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.
experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music.

Pupils in KS2 are taught to:

play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music
listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
use and understand staff and other musical notations
appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
develop an understanding of the history of music.

Opportunities are taken to perform in class, in whole school assemblies and also to parents and the wider community. School worship involves the singing of hymns which provides a musical opportunity to explore spirituality. Our KS2 choir performs regularly in school and at events in the local and wider community. These provide possibilities to perform music in a variety of different environments.

Impact

Assessment criteria have been developed, in line with the national curriculum aims, to enable teachers to assess the progress of children in their learning of Music. This ensures that children are supported and challenged as appropriate. This data is analysed on a termly basis, and an action plan drawn up to address any identified gaps.

Pupil Voice is also used to further develop the Music curriculum, through questioning of pupil’s views and attitudes to learning about Music. Mainly, we intend to ensure that their learning has been impacted enough to ensure they leave with a passion music and use this to continue to explore and find out about music around the world and develop their own taste and appreciation of the subject.