Music

INTENT   

Curious - explore a variety of ways to be a musician, a composer and a listener of a wide variety of music

Ethical - understand the value of other cultures and the potential of teamwork as a musician

Aspirational - to ignite a lifelong love of music

Creative - to create and perform a variety of pieces in different styles from around the world

Music-National-CurriculumMusic-Curriculum-Overview

The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all children

• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music

• Be taught to sing, create and compose music

• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.

At Charlbury Primary School this is embedded in the classroom through a series of logically organised and sequenced topics, or units of work delivered throughout the school year and designed to cover the above skills. As pupils move up through the school these skills are revisited in greater depth and at greater levels of complexity so that pupils can deepen their understanding.

In addition to their topic work Years 3 and 4 all children are taught to play the recorder and read basic music notation.   Children in Years 5 and 6 are taught to play the ukulele.

All KS1 and KS2 music lessons, both topic and instrumental are delivered by the Music Lead who has a degree in music and over 20 years’ experience teaching primary music.  

Children are given the opportunity to further refine their developing skills in weekly singing assemblies run by the Music Lead, participation in Young Voices for all children in Years 4-6 and a popular after-school Junior and Senior Choir. Pupils also have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument from a visiting specialist teacher on a range of instruments including the piano, violin, electric and classical guitar, bass guitar and drums.

Individuals or groups of children are encouraged to perform during whole school assemblies in order to celebrate and share their musical skills. Performances to parents consist of class assemblies, an R/Y1 nativity, various KS2 productions, a carol concert and a Chinese New Year celebration assembly. The Choir is active within the local community, performing at events such as the Charlbury Beer Festival, Arts Society Festival, The Street Fair, The Riverside Festival and a variety of community Christmas events. Parents and pupils sing Christmas carols together to raise money for the CSA.

At Charlbury Primary School pupils can articulate the musical skills they are developing and talk about lessons they have enjoyed. They can use relevant vocabulary to talk about the music they have listened to.  They are able to sing a variety of songs in different styles and understand how to keep a steady pulse.  They use a wide range of percussive instruments to explore and are given the opportunity to improvise and create their own music. Pupils develop their musical skills over time, building on their subject knowledge as they progress through the school. 

Pupils are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose – either as listener, creator or performer.  They have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop a further interest in music in their lives.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Lesson observations from SLT

• Performances to other members of staff or in assemblies

• Regular video recordings (often shared with the children so they can see their own progress)

• Talking to pupils about their experiences