Music
In July 2022, Mrs Heaton's Recorder Club shared what they had learned with their class in a performance.
Alston Lane Catholic Primary School & Nursery
Music Curriculum Statement
Intent
In our school the teaching of Music engages and inspires pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians as well as increasing their self-confidence, creativity and a sense of achievement. We believe that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Music helps tell the unique stories of people, communities and cultures and allows us to appreciate the diversity of our ever-changing world.
Through their study of Music, our pupils will experiment with the creative process and experience the joy of performing and listening to others perform. We believe that the joy of music making will support pupil wellbeing and bring happiness to our school and wider community.
Implementation
Our curriculum is centred around ‘Charanga’, a music-based scheme, in which the children learn to sing and play instruments. Across the year groups, the interrelated dimensions of music weave through each unit to encourage the development of musical skills as the learning progresses through three phases: listening and appraising, musical activities (including improvisation and composition) and performing.
The music units have been designed to enable pupils to develop new musical skills and concepts in a progressive manner but also revisit and practise established skills to create sticky learning. Through listening to and appraising a variety of different music styles, from Hip Hop to Classical music, our pupils will be encouraged to develop their own musical preferences. They will also build their expertise of playing the glockenspiel and/or recorder, showcasing their skills in group performances. In year 4, whole class music lessons will enable children to learn a musical instrument in more depth and experience the joy of performing together.
Through our carefully chosen ‘class composer’ studies, we aim to give our pupils an understanding of the unique stories of people, communities, cultures and musical eras to develop an appreciation of how music influences the lives of so many people. Music is also integral to the Catholic Life of our school and our weekly hymn practice allows the whole school to join together in joyful worship whilst developing our faith.
Knowledge Progression
Each year group's music curriculum is further developed in a 'learning journey' document, which describes, in detail, the key knowledge that we want the children to acquire.
These documents provide the medium term planning details that staff require to ensure prior knowledge is built upon, whilst looking forwards to future learning opportunities.