Music

We believe that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. We provide opportunities for all children to create, perform and enjoy music, to develop their skills, to appreciate a wide variety of musical forms, and to begin to make judgements about the quality of music. 

Curriculum Intent 

Our curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum 2014. It aims to ensure that all pupils: 

•    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 interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations 

At MVPS, making every child’s music matter is a core principle. Enjoyment and achievement lie at the heart of a good primary practice; every child should enjoy musical activities. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences and give children ‘wow’ opportunities to engage in their own learning, through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children.  

We believe music also plays an important part in helping children to feel part of a community; building interpersonal skills within and beyond school. Therefore, we provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music, both in class and to an audience through assemblies, concerts and key stage performances throughout the year.  

Through singing songs and playing instruments, we encourage creativity where children can learn about the structure and organisation of music therefore enabling them to grow in confidence and to follow their ideas. Concentrating on our golden thread of communication , we teach them to listen to and appreciate different forms of music so they can make reasoned judgments and form conclusions.  

Our aim is for children and staff to enjoy the physical, emotional and social benefits of singing and music making in a way which will stay with them for many years. 

Curriculum Implementation 

Music will be taught using activities and approaches that are appropriate for learning the different musical elements. Each year group has units of music which build upon the skills, knowledge and understanding of earlier years. Teacher planned lessons by Charanga online will include: 

• Controlling sounds through singing and playing – performing skills 

• Creating and developing musical ideas – composing skills 

• Responding and reviewing – appraising skills 

• Listening, and applying knowledge and understanding – listening skills 

We recognise that in all classes, children have a wide range of musical ability, and so we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this in a variety of ways: 

• setting tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;  
• setting tasks of increasing difficulty;  
• grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each group;  
• grouping children in mixed ability groups;  
• providing resources of different complexity, depending on the ability of the child 

Our curriculum is enriched by a range of musical experiences during each year. This includes: 

• Djembe drums, steel pan drums and samba music (Wider Opportunities) in Year 4.  

• Children can access peripatetic teaching of guitar, paid for by the parent .  

• Singing assemblies take place weekly in KS1 and KS2 and a KS2 choir.  

• Concerts, Christmas plays and KS2 productions.  

Curriculum Impact 

Children demonstrate their ability in music in a variety of different ways. Teachers will assess children's work in music by making informal judgments as they observe them during lessons. On completion of a piece of work, the teacher assesses the work and gives oral feedback, as necessary, to inform future progress. Pupils are also encouraged to make judgments about how they can improve their own work. We use this as the basis for assessing the progress of each child and year group as a whole.  

Examples of children's work in different year groups can be seen through photos and videos.