Music

Intent:

At Freeland Primary School we aim to make music a creative, immersive and enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences with the intention to build confidence, to encourage working collaboratively and to inspire creativity. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s appreciation for rhythm and melody and gaining a deeper understanding of the history and context of music through singing, playing, composing, listening, improvising and performing. Through teaching music at Freeland Primary School, our priority is to teach and perfect the skills implemented by the National Curriculum for Music allowing for the development and progression in learning.  Music is planned to be inclusive and accessible to all pupils. Teachers adapt resources, instruments, teaching approaches and expected outcomes where appropriate so that pupils with SEND can participate fully in musical experiences while maintaining ambitious expectations for their learning.

Implementation:

At Freeland Primary School, we use Charanga as our scheme of work. The Charanga scheme provides teachers with week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the school and it is ideal for building up the confidence in both adults (by enhancing their subject knowledge) and children alike. It provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson. The Scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum. Each unit has a KCV which teachers use to support planning and lesson

In line with the curriculum for music and guidance from Ofsted, this Scheme moves away from the previous levels and learning objective/outcome concepts to an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to musical learning. Charanga enables children to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills.

Across the Charanga scheme, pupils develop their musical knowledge and skills through listening and responding, singing, playing instruments, improvising, composing and performing. Musical concepts including pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation are revisited regularly, enabling pupils to develop increasingly secure and sophisticated musical understanding. Every year, a group of children attend 'Festival of Voices' and all year groups are given opportunities to play a variety of instruments. Oxfordshire Music Service provides instrumentation lessons for all classes in Key Stage 2, this year focusing on the violin. Instrumental tuition is available for recorder and guitar.  We encourage children to perform in assemblies, services, productions and concerts throughout the year.

As a small school with mixed-age classes, our music curriculum is organised through a carefully planned two-year rolling programme. Learning is mapped to ensure that pupils experience the full breadth of the music curriculum and revisit key musical concepts with increasing depth and complexity. Where adjacent year groups are taught together, units are planned around shared musical themes, with learning objectives and expected outcomes adapted appropriately for each year group. This enables pupils to learn collaboratively while ensuring clear progression in listening, singing, playing, improvising, composing, notation and performing. The rolling programme is reviewed to ensure that no areas of the curriculum are missed and that pupils build securely on their prior musical knowledge and skills as they move through the school.

Cycle A

Cycle B

   Impact:

Children are assessed within every lesson, enabling teachers to identify next steps and adapt subsequent teaching. At the end of each term, teachers use KCVs and planning to make assessments which are recorded on Arbor. Subject leaders gather and analyse this information alongside pupil voice, work scrutiny and observations of musical learning to monitor the quality and impact of provision.

By the end of Year 6, we aim for pupils to be confident and enthusiastic musicians who can listen and respond thoughtfully to a broad range of music; sing and perform with increasing accuracy, fluency and expression; play instruments individually and as part of an ensemble; improvise and compose using their developing understanding of musical concepts and notation; and reflect upon and evaluate their own and others' music. Pupils will have experienced music from different periods, traditions and cultures and will be well prepared for the next stage of their musical education.