Music

Intent 

We intend that our high-quality music teaching will ‘engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.’ (National Curriculum, 2014).

We recognise the power of music to inspire creativity and individual expression and to support positive mental health and wellbeing.

Specifically, our teaching will ensure that all pupils:

• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians;
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence;
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

Implementation

Curriculum Music:

Each class is taught by a specialist music teacher from Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust. We use Sing Up Music’s 2-year programme for small schools supplemented by other resources such as BBC Ten Pieces. Within each unit pupils develop their knowledge of musical styles and genres as well as developing skills in using their voice and instruments (tuned and untuned percussion, ukulele and ‘PBuzz’).

They are also exposed to the music of a wide range of artists, both historical and contemporary and develop their knowledge of the history of music. In line with National Curriculum and Model Music Curriculum expectations, children play and perform, improvise and compose, and listen and appraise.

Specifically, children will learn to:

KS1

• use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes;
• play tuned and untuned instruments musically;
• listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music;
• experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

KS2

• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression;
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music;
• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory;
• use and understand staff and other musical notations;
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians;
• develop an understanding of the history of music.

Please refer to the Long Term Curriculum Plan for further details.

Co-curricular music:

We enable pupils to receive individual music lessons with peripatetic teachers from Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) and MusicMakers on a weekly basis. We currently offer guitar, piano, strings, brass and woodwind lessons (please enquire at the school office for details of how to book).

Every year, children in KS2 engage in a series of workshops to learn a new instrument with an NMPAT teacher through their First Access Project (e.g. ukulele, brass).

There are plans to develop a school choir and instrumental ensembles (brass and ukulele) over the next 2 years.

Musical experiences:

We incorporate music extensively into our annual whole school musical production where all children in school (from EYFS to year 6) have a part. In 2024 our production was Peter Pan. Other school performances include our KS2 ukulele concert and sharing assemblies where any children learning individual instruments share their work with the rest of the school and parents. KS2 children also take part in a ‘Big Sing’ event at the Derngate Theatre, Northampton with other opportunities including visits from ‘live’ musicians including NMPAT’s recital teams.

Impact 

We expect the vast majority of children to achieve the NMPAT age-expected standards at the end of each academic phase of teaching (Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6). These standards summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding that children should have gained.  Alongside regular observations within practical music making opportunities, termly video recordings or ‘Progression Snap-shots' are used as an additional summative assessment tool.

With curriculum music at the heart of our provision, we aim to build the numbers of children regularly participating in our co-curricular offer and we monitor the numbers learning instruments.

Pupil Voice is an important part of our reflection on the impact and effectiveness of our offer for music for all our children. We aim to talk to groups of children representing all year groups once a term.