Music Subject Leader Planning Statement:
Our music curriculum aims to provide all pupils with a high quality music education which engages and inspires children to develop a life-long love of music, increases their self-confidence, creativity, and imagination, and provides opportunities for self-expression and a sense of personal achievement . We offer opportunities for children to develop their talents in all aspects of music including composition, singing and appreciation.
As a Rights Respecting School, we are aware that under the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child:
Article 29 (goals of education)
Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
Article 31 (leisure, play and culture)
Every child has the right to relax, play and join in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.
Our Vision is that through music lessons:
Music is a unique way of communicating that can inspire and motivate children. It is a vehicle for personal expression, and it can play an important role in the personal development of people. Music reflects the culture and society that we live in, and so the teaching and learning of music enables children to learn more about the world we live in. Music plays an important role in helping children to feel like part of a community. We provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform, and enjoy music, to develop the skills, to appreciate a wide variety of musical forms, and begin to make judgements about the quality of music
What makes our Music curriculum exceptional?
1. It is underpinned by aims, values & purpose
e.g. Article 29 UN Convention of Rights of the Child: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
2. It develops the whole person – knowledge, skills, understanding & attitudes.
Allows for cultural expression
Children learn new skills – singing, instruments, notation, listening
Music creates a positive mood
It is community-building when shared
3. It is broad and balanced.
Classical music
Popular music
Music from around the world
Performances
EYFS learn to listen (wide variety music)
4. There is clear progression in subject knowledge and skills.
Charanga online music scheme provides the backbone to all our music planning and provision through the school, except where year groups receive whole class instrumental.
5. It is filled with rich first-hand experiences.
Music is used to make cross curricular links and give children experiences:
Peripatetic music experts,
class assemblies,
Local schools’ annual Music Festival
Our school Music Concert
Christmas carols and shows
6. It is flexible and responsive to individual needs and interests.
Peripatetic music experts,
Whole class instrumental tuition,
Pupil premium provides offer of free tuition,
Multiple opportunities to perform every year
7. It has an eye on the future and the needs of future citizens.
Digital music editing in Computing.
Learning for Life.
Developing children’s potential and interest in music.
8. It encourages the use of environments and expertise beyond the classroom.
Whole class Herts instrumental teaching in Y3, Y5 and Y6,
Egyptian drumming and dance workshop,
Peripatetic music experts.
Local secondary school music department come in fortnightly to work with our KS2 children.
9. It makes meaningful links between areas of knowledge across the curriculum.
Editing digital music and looking at its history - in Computing,
Science – sound
Peripatetic music experts,
Viking music
10. It has a local, national and global dimension.
Charanga scheme covers all genres of music from all over the world.
BBC 10 pieces
Assembly Music – themed each week
Egyptian drumming and dance workshop
11. It is supported by high quality Subject Leader CPD.
Herts Music fully supports our staff and provides all our training needs.
12. SMSC is embedded within the curriculum.
(See SMSC Subject Statement)
Social, Moral, Spiritual, Cultural Links – Music
Spiritual
Music supports spiritual development by encouraging through the experience and emotion of responding to performing, listening and composing music. We encourage our pupils to express their feelings verbally and in written form to improve their levels of articulacy. Where pupils are sensitive about expressing their feelings we nurture the confidence to do this by creating a supportive environment.
Moral
Music supports moral development by encouraging pupils to engage in critical discussions of musical performances and dramas/presentations from other children and also visiting professionals. Where there is a specific cultural or social reference that is explicit in the work examined we encourage pupils to reflect upon this. Where pupils present their own work we ensure fair and objective assessment and evaluation of their work.
Social
Music supports social development with children collaborating routinely in group tasks where they take responsibility for their own learning outcomes and progress. We encourage the skills of independence, resilience and time management. Where they engage in group tasks we build a sense of unity which leads to them addressing their individual abilities and strengths and learning to build upon these collaboratively.
Cultural
Music supports cultural development by encouraging a respect and deep appreciation for cultures around the world that have contributed to the development of our current popular musical styles. This philosophy also underpins our selection of music for performance events whether they are informal or formal occasions. We encourage children to create their own music and to incorporate different musical influences in their own composition. We use a wide variety of instruments from around the world to enrich the cultural experiences of our children.