Intent:

At St John’s School we believe that every child has the right to a curriculum that inspires them to be creative and develop a lifelong love of music.  Our curriculum is designed to build children’s self-confidence, celebrate their achievements and give them the platform to explore, experiment and perform.

Music is part of our daily life and is used to support and enhance learning in many other subject areas. At St John’s, music has an important role in supporting our school values and Christian ethos.

 ‘Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging.’ Department of Education, Model Music Curriculum 2021.

Implementation:

In the Early Years, music contributes to a child’s development in the area of expressive arts and design. In Reception, Key stage 1 and 2, children are taught music by their class teacher.  Each half-term covers a new topic although some aspects of music learning are ongoing throughout the year. We use Charanga  (an online resource) to support our music teaching as it is a very clear and comprehensive scheme of work which covers all the National Curriculum requirements in a full and progressive way. Instrumental learning is taught progressively using the Charanga units of work. However, we do not follow the scheme strictly as we adapt our music teaching to what is being taught across the curriculum. Resources from the scheme are chosen to support topic work.

Across the school we choose pieces of music from the Charanga Listening centre to encourage active listening to music from different genres and eras on a weekly basis. Children throughout the school sing on a daily basis in assemblies and during collective worship times. We have a weekly singing practise and children in years 3 to 6 are given the opportunity to join the choir. Singing plays a prominent part in all school productions at Christmas, Easter and at the end of the school year. Children are given the opportunity to learn a brass or woodwind instrument in Years 3 and 4 and continue their learning of their chosen instrument through to Year 6.

At our school we teach music to all children, whatever their ability. Music forms part of the school curriculum policy to provide a broad and balanced education to all children. Assessment against the National Curriculum allows us to consider each child’s attainment and progress against expectations. Teachers assess children’s work in music by making informal judgements as they observe them during lessons. We use Target Tracker to record children’s attainment. 

Singing

In Year 1 children will be taught to sing simple songs, chants and rhymes from memory, sing collectively and at the same pitch, responding to simple visual directions and counting in. They will sing a wide range of call and response songs to control vocal pitch and to match the pitch they hear with accuracy. In Year 2 children will be taught to sing songs regularly with a pitch range of do-so with increasing vocal control. They will sing songs with a small pitch range, accurately. Children will be taught the meaning of dynamics and demonstrate these when singing.

Listening KS1

Children will listen to and appraise  a wide variety of musical styles and genres from the past up to the present day. Children will be taught to recognise changes in tempo and respond to these through movement and be able to maintain a steady pulse, identifying the strongest beat.

Composing

Children will be taught to improvise simple vocal chants and create music in response to stimuli, choosing the most appropriate instruments. They will be taught the difference between creating a rhythm pattern and a pitch pattern and compose their own. Graphic notation will be introduced to represent sounds and children will be encouraged to develop their own symbols.

Performing

Children will continue to develop their skills on tuned instruments and play and perform using staff notation. They will be given opportunities to perform as part of a large or small ensemble and for a variety of audiences.

KS2

Singing Year 3 and 4

Children will be given the opportunity to sing a broad range of unison songs, building to a range of an octave, pitching the voice accurately incorporating dynamics and responding to changes in tempo. Children will be taught to sing rounds and partner songs in different time signatures (2, 3 and 4 time) and begin to sing repertoire with small and large leaps.

Listening

Children will listen and appraise a wide variety of musical styles and genres from the past up to the present day and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to.

Composing.

Children will be taught to Improvise on a limited range of pitches on a tuned instrument, making use of musical features appropriate to the year group. They will begin to make compositional decisions about the overall structure of improvisations. Children will use known rhythmic notation and note names to create pentatonic melodies that can be played and sung.

They will explore and develop their knowledge of musical components by composing music to create a specific mood, and be introduced to major and minor chords.  Children will capture and record their ideas using graphic symbols/notation, time signatures and staff notation.

Performing.

Children will continue to develop their skills on tuned instruments and play and perform using staff notation. They will be given opportunities to perform as part of a large or small ensemble and for a variety of audiences.

Year 5 and 6

Singing

Children will be given the opportunity to sing a broad range of songs, including those that involve syncopated rhythms. This will include observing rhythm, phrasing, accurate pitching and appropriate style. They will learn to sing three and four-part rounds and perform a range of songs as a choir in school assemblies, school performance opportunities and to a wider audience.

Listening

Children will listen and appraise a wide variety of musical styles and genres from the past up to the present day and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to.

Composing

Children will be taught to create music with multiple sections that include repetition and contrast, use chord changes as part of an improvised sequence and extend melodies beyond 8 beats.

Children will be taught to plan, compose and record (using staff notation) an 8 or 16-beat melodic phrase and be able to perform their melody on tuned percussion and/or orchestral instruments. Compositions will be written in suitable key for the instrument chosen and complemented with a rhythmic or chordal accompaniment.  Children will use available music software to create and record it, discussing how musical contrasts are achieved.

Performing

Children will be taught to play a melody within the range of an octave and perform an accompaniment using block chords or a bass line, carefully considering dynamics.

Children will further develop the skill to read and perform pitch notation within an octave and understand the difference between semibreves, minims, crotchets, quavers and semiquavers, and their equivalent rests. Children will be given opportunities to perform for a variety of audiences and as part of small and larger ensembles.

Impact:

At St John’s C of E Primary School we value music because it is a powerful and unique form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. Our aim is for the children at St. John’s to develop an appreciation for music in its many different forms and become confident and enthusiastic musicians. Our children will develop the knowledge and skills in order to make progress against the National Curriculum objectives but develop their uniqueness and individuality.