Intent

“Music multiplies all that is beautiful and of value in life”

Kodaly

The intent of our Music curriculum is to ensure children have access to a range of activities, both in and out of lesson time, in which all are able to achieve and that will develop children’s knowledge and enjoyment in order that they understand, know and create in a meaningful way and in a range of situations. 

As a result of this they will:

• develop listening skills to enable them to retrieve examples of their learning and develop their knowledge and language skills. This will include a range of genres, cultures and time periods
• Learn to sing a variety of styles of song using their voices effectively
• Use their knowledge of rhythm and pitch to improvise phrases within a given scenario
• Explore structure and timbre and create effective pieces which reflect their knowledge of melody, rhythm and a variety of accompaniment styles
• Record and read their ideas and those of others in a meaningful way using written symbols and technology

Our curriculum map outlines the intended learning across the school to ensure progress is made not only of subject knowledge but also to encourage enjoyment and a love of music that will enhance their learning experience generally during their time at the school.

 Implementation

We teach the National Curriculum (MMC) and the EYFS framework, supported by clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. It is important that the children develop skills as musicians throughout their time at Grove CE Primary School and develop an appreciation for music as well as learning to perform it. Through the following, we aim to provide a broad and varied experience in the study of music.

From the long-term overview, a variety of engaging resources are used to plan sequences of lessons sequence of lessons to teach the skills and knowledge appropriate to each year group.

Teachers aim to provide additional opportunities to incorporate these skills into wider cross curricular lesson for each topic covered as well as opportunities to perform in concerts and plays. We provide a range of opportunities for children to develop individually as musicians, such as peripatetic lessons as well as clubs and events such as music assemblies and talent shows.

Pupils will experience a wider range of musical activities beyond the classroom. These include regular singing as part of collective worship both in school and in church, as well as opportunities to perform as part of year group productions and concerts. The school choir also sing at different events during the school year e.g. for senior citizens and at school events. There are also opportunities to perform with other schools in other events further afield such as the festival of voices in Dorchester Abbey or Young Voices.

Pupils are assessed against the criteria in the attached progression document.

Impact

By the time the children leave our school they should have developed the ability to:

❖ Sing with confidence and expression with attention to phrasing, pitch and breathing

❖ Use a range of tuned and untuned tuned instruments to create a variety of musical effects for a variety of musical purposes and show understanding of timbre

❖ Compose their own pieces of music individually and in collaboration with increasingly adventurous structure, using a variety of musical techniques

❖ Show understanding essential key ideas of music theory including notation and how chords are structured and used

❖ Read and write music using a variety of different notations, including staff notation

❖ Identify key musical features of pieces and genres of music by various composers and musicians,

❖ Discuss pieces of music making good use of musical terms and knowledge they are familiar with

We have lots of music taking place in school! We pride ourselves on our singing and we could be heard on Radio Oxford at Christmas singing "All Around The World". Parents have often commented on the lovely singing in assemblies and on special occasions.

Musical activities

• Choir - mainly in Terms 1-2; 5-6
• Recorders - Beginners and advanced
• Instrumental lessons - woodwind, brass and guitar
• Class music - singing, percussion playing, creative music

In February/March this year, all the schools in the WASPS Partnership held a "Music Fortnight". Activities were based around "Oliver" which was the King Alfred's School production. We had  visits from characters; some pupils got a chance to play and sing in Wantage Civic Hall with members of the KA's band on March 8th; also on March 8th our whole school took part in workshops with Bassistry Arts. Travelling By Tuba came in on March 22nd and gave an hour long presentation to the whole school and parents which was greatly appreciated and informative. They then worked with all the children - KS1 created Samba rhythms and KS2 created Salsa rhythms.