Music

Intent

Learning within music stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides opportunities for listening, appraising, singing, playing, improvisation, composition and performance.

Children understand musical concepts and how music both reflects and shapes the world. They explore ideas and meaning through the work of musicians and a wide range of musical genres. As they learn about the history, roles and functions of music, they can explore the impact that it has on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures.

Children become increasingly competent musicians, revisiting the interrelated dimensions of music (pulse, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre, structure, texture & notation) in a spiral curriculum.

Implementation

At WPPSF we achieve this by:

• Teaching music regularly. Children cover a music topic at least every half term and also have additional opportunities to engage with music activities throughout the school year.
• Teaching the interrelated dimensions of music.
• Re-teaching skills throughout the children’s time in school. Skills are revisited and honed in a spiral curriculum, which progresses in terms of depth and challenge, to build on the children’s previous learning.
• Fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of music and a knowledge of singers, composers and genres.
• Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in music through performances and enrichment activities (such as our Christmas Showcase, Summer Showcase, school choir & Young Voices)
• Providing opportunities for extra-curricular development of music, including gifted and talented musician groups, music for wellbeing groups and individual music lessons (e.g. piano, violin, guitar & rocksteady)

Impact

By the end of their time with us, pupils have learned, improved and embedded a range of musical skills. They have an awareness of a broad range of composers and musicians, and are able to consider and discuss the music they come across. Our pupils are confident to explore, improvise, compose and perform, placing value on the process and journey that they take, not just on the finished product. Most importantly, children have found and enjoyed a creative outlet – a means of self-expression and enjoyment.