Music
Music at Overleigh St Mary’s C of E Primary School
Intent
The aim of our curriculum is to build the knowledge, skills and attitudes pupils need to become informed, articulate and empowered. Music is an important expression of creativity and culture; through our discrete music teaching, we provide opportunities for pupils to develop their instrumental skills alongside an appreciation of music and the confidence to perform and create music.
Informed
- Children learn about great composers and musicians from different historical periods and cultures.
- Children develop the knowledge and skills to create their own music employing different styles and methods of recording.
Articulate
- Through the teaching of subject specific technical vocabulary and opportunities to respond to musical works, children develop their ability to think critically, and understand choices made by composers.
- Through the understanding of musical (graphic and standard), children learn how to communicate their choices when creating music.
Empowered
- Works and artists covered in our Scheme of work reflect the diversity of our community, enabling the pupils to see themselves as musicians and composers.
- Regular opportunities to perform in concerts, assemblies, carol services enable children to grow as confident performers.
- Visits from/to local professional performances expose children to the opportunities available to them in our area.
- All children, including those who have SEND or are disadvantaged, are supported to fully access the music curriculum. This may include additional adult support, adapted resources and using technology to record or access learning.
Implementation
Children explore key concepts as they move through the school. Our curriculum is laid out in such a way that the children will initially learn how to listen for everyday sounds how to choose objects to make an intended sound and perform when given visual cues. This will be a starting block in EYFS and built upon as they enter Key Stage 1. As a child moves through our school, their musical skill and understanding will deepen as it would have been built on the foundations laid in the previous years. The core musical concepts of listening, performing and composing are revisited in different units allowing children to apply new knowledge and increasingly musical interpretations to the concept. For example, children in EYFS and KS1 would approach musical notation by first looking at pictures of instruments as a cue to when to play, then move to graphic notation until in Upper Key Stage 2 they would be expected to recognise and write some traditional western notation.
We aim to make music an enjoyable learning experience and an integral part of life at Overleigh St. Mary’s. It is taught as both a discrete subject and within other areas of learning when deemed appropriate.
Students are given the opportunity to experience small group or individual instrumental lessons with visiting peripatetic teachers on piano, woodwind, string and brass instruments. We also offer a provision through a link with Edsential for whole class learning of an instrument.
Impact
Our Music Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to ensure progression. Our teachers measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- A knowledge check at the beginning of each unit to see what the children already know
- Link each of our core strands to previous learning, to compare and contrast and to review understanding
- Start lessons with a recap of key knowledge and understanding from the previous session
- Provide opportunities each lesson to use the key vocabulary
- Assess children at the end of the unit against key knowledge and learning
The leadership team check that this impact is being secured through monitoring the subject on a regular basis. This includes:
- Staff subject knowledge, which is audited each year to ensure knowledge is secure, and additional support provided if necessary
- Regular staff meetings to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of topics with the subject leaders. From this, medium term planning is amended and adapted to ensure the curriculum remains relevant for the children
- A ‘pupil voice’, which is conducted at the beginning and end of each year to allow pupils to contribute to their curriculum content
- Bi-termly monitoring of work against the medium-term plans, so that inconsistencies can be addressed
The impact of this is that students at Overleigh are enthusiastic musicians who are equipped with age appropriate skills and knowledge but perhaps most importantly, a life-long love of music.