Intent

At Swanland School we would like all children to become confident musicians and embrace the creativity that music lessons offer. Our music curriculum will inspire and engage children to develop a passion for music and their ability as they move through the school. Our scheme of work is in line with statutory requirements, as well as ensuring that each year group will teach specific areas of music, which are designed to expand the learning obtained in previous years whilst building further on pupil’s musical knowledge and skills. Our music lessons are designed to engage children with their own learning, to inspire them and to build upon and make links between knowledge and skills learnt in previous years. Our music lessons are also delivered with the intent for children to form their own independent views and to realise the power music can have and the different purposes music also serves. It is also a chance for children to experiment, in a safe space, expressing themselves using different elements of music.

Using the National Curriculum and the new Model Music Curriculum, Swanland School aims to ensure that Key Stage 1 children should be taught:

• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
• Play melodic and rhythmic 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 inter-related dimensions of music.

Using the National Curriculum and the new Model Music Curriculum, Swanland School aims to ensure that Key Stage 2 children should be taught:

• 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 inter-related 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

Carefully planned lessons will ensure that children are combining their passions and opinions with their musical understanding to learn and create their own musical pieces. We aim to ensure that our children take responsibility for their own learning and give them the skills and opportunities to become independent, confident and eager learners.

A progression of what is taught in music throughout the years is identified in our Progression of Skills document.

Gaps in knowledge will be addressed and will influence and shape future planning. The transition to using the model music curriculum and the impact of the pandemic upon the gaps in children’s music knowledge will be continuously addressed through the weekly lessons and assessments.

Implementation

Swanland Primary school is committed to providing its pupils with the opportunities to apply their musical skills and knowledge to the wider world of music, including playing an instrument and performing as well as composing their own music.

We will implement our Music Curriculum in a variety of ways at Swanland School, to ensure maximum engagement and potential. At Key Stages 1 and 2, children should receive the equivalent of one hour of music teaching per week. Across both Key Stages there should be access to both melodic (glockenspiel) and rhythmic (tambourines, djembes, etc) instruments.

As well as this, we will also teach and embed elements of the music curriculum through our weekly singing assemblies, lead by our Music Subject leader. These assemblies will reinforce children’s singing skills, focusing on dynamics and diction as well as focusing on the meaning and interpretation of the lyrics of the songs. Also, we will embed key vocabulary from different year groups, just to support the weekly lessons children are receiving. Our KS2 choir is also a great opportunity for children to learn how to sing in both an ensemble and as a solo and as well as learn how to harmonise and perform in canons. In addition, the yearly plays and performances that each year group perform will also teach and embed these performances and singing skills.

These clubs and activities give children many opportunities to improve and progress their own talent, knowledge and skills and broadens their horizons when it comes to music.

They also provide children with an immersive experience and demonstrates how fundamental music can be in our daily lives.

Regular music updates and staff meetings will be held in order to give teachers the confidence and knowledge they need in order to teach music at Swanland School effectively.

Impact

At Swanland School we believe that the Music Curriculum is challenging and progressive, whilst maintaining engaging, relevant and accessible.

To ensure a high quality music curriculum is being taught throughout the school, the Music Subject Leader will conduct learning walks during music lessons, conduct pupil voice with children to gain their opinions and assess the confidence they have within their music lessons. As well as this, the Music Subject Leader will inspect the music evidence, either practical activities or work in their music books to ensure suitable progression is being made across the year groups and children are being encouraged to be creative and think carefully about the power different genres can have both on individuals and a culture as a whole.

Under the Model Music Curriculum, new base-line assessments will be carried out at the beginning of topics, where appropriate, and at the end of a topic, to keep track of the progress of the children and the impact of our teaching. As well as this, these assessments and the regular updates to the objectives on our formative assessment platform, ScholarPack, will help to shape and inform future planning.

Music progressive curriculum