Intent

At Burgh by Sands School, it is our intention that we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. We want the music lessons to be fun and inspiring, engaging the children with songs, lyrics and movement. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community, and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.  We want the children to feel able and reflective and expressive, developing their own appreciation of music with the opportunities we provide as a school. All children are actively encouraged and given the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument, from standard classroom instruments such as glockenspiels and recorders to individual instrumental lessons with a visiting peripatetic teacher.

Implementation

At Burgh by Sands School, we use the Charanga Muscial School scheme which is ideal for specialist and non-specialist teachers and provides lesson plans, clear progression and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson.  All requirements of the National Curriculum are covered. Charanga includes many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre.

We provide opportunities for children to be actively involved in using and developing their singing voices, using body actions, and learning to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and other’s music. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform. During music lessons children will be given opportunities to learn music specific vocabulary in a meaningful context. During the lesson children will be given opportunities to apply skill and given chance for collaboration through composition.

We encourage staff to teach a weekly music lesson.  This helps to ensure sufficient time is allocated to music and that musical subject matter can be revisited frequently.  We believe that by crafting our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rates of progress they make.

Impact

Our music curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression and build on and embed current skills. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills in the different musical components and like in other subjects, discreet teaching of vocabulary also forms parts of the units of work. If children are achieving the knowledge and skills in lessons, then they are deemed to be making good or better progress.

Music is monitored by the subject leader throughout all year groups using a variety of strategies such as, lesson observations and staff discussions. Feedback is given to teachers.

By the time children leave school they will have a rapidly widened repertoire which they will be able to use to create original, imaginative, fluent and distinctive composing and performance works. They have also had the opportunity to learn a variety of musical instruments and play individually and as part of an ensemble. They are given opportunities to perform to a wide variety of people including the community and their Parents.