At Knightwood Primary School we are committed to engaging and inspiring children’s enthusiasm for music, in order to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As a school, we believe that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity, and through the power of music, our children will embrace their own and others' cultures and fuel their curiosity about music in the wider world.

Intent:

At Knightwood, our children will develop a passion for music, through which pupils learn to appreciate and develop a life-long love of music. Through our carefully created curriculum we will develop children's skills, knowledge and understanding, to enable them to become confident performers, composers and listeners.

The children are introduced to a variety of genres of music from around the world and across generations, recognising the multicultural nature of our school and how we use music as a medium to explore and appreciate British and other cultures. They will develop their musical skills through singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, composing music and responding to music that they listen to.

The music curriculum will broaden transferable skills which are key in their development as learners and have a wider application in their lives both inside and outside of school, e.g. team-working, leadership, creative thinking, decision-making and performance skills.

Implementation:

Music will be taught progressively so that it begins in the Early Years, where the children’s musical awareness is developed to support their imagination and creativity. This early love of music is then developed throughout school, whereupon, children are encouraged to perform, rehearse, sing and explore their own musicality.

The individual strands of music are interwoven in lessons to create engaging, enriching learning that progresses through the years and throughout the key stages.  Music lessons comprise: performing, listening, composing, the history of music and the interrelated dimensions of music.

Pupils' knowledge is built year-on-year, and they are taught how to sing fluently and expressively, play tuned and untuned instruments with accuracy and control.  They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics and use these in their own composition and improvisations expressively.

Our music curriculum is delivered following the Get Set 4 Music Scheme of Work.  The Scheme provides us with lessons for each year group from Reception through to Year 6.  The scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum and is in line with published Ofsted guidance.  Our children thoroughly enjoy their music lessons.

Every year group experiences an enrichment phase through Listen to me (e.g. ukuleles, recorders, keyboards) and other specialist teachers (African, Samba and Steel band), as well as having access to a varied selection of tuned and untuned instruments in school.

If pupils wish to learn how to play a musical instrument, they are enabled to do this at the direction of specialised music teachers who visit the school to deliver lessons.

Intent:

Our children are engaged and excited by our music curriculum.  The skills that they are taught equip them with a range of skills to enable them to appreciate music throughout their lives. They become confident performers, composers and listeners, who are able to express themselves musically at school and beyond. They show an appreciation and respect for a range of music from a variety of genres across a variety of generations.

Our children progress throughout the music curriculum, which enables them to meet the expectations outlined at the end of each key stage for the national curriculum.

Teachers ensure that they are given the opportunity to share their new skills and knowledge in front of an adult audience after enrichment phases and regularly perform outcomes to music topic tasks within class. 

We measure the impact of the curriculum through pupil discussion, uptake of music lessons, AFL and the end of year music concert.