Intent: The knowledge and skills that pupils will gain at each stage of the curriculum

As it states in the National Curriculum, ‘Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity’ it is our intent that all pupils leave St Louis being able to appreciate music as a powerful form of communication and have the knowledge and skills to perform, listen, appraise and evaluate music across a range of historical periods and genres, including the works of the great composers and musicians.

We have high ambitions for all our pupils. We aim for all children to increase in confidence throughout their musical journey at St Louis. For pupils with SEND, additional support and strategies will be incorporated into lessons to break down barriers and create an inclusive musical classroom. The implementation of this can be found below.

Implementation: How the curriculum is taught and assessed

We use the Charanga Musical School scheme as a stimulus for the delivery of music lessons throughout our school.

EYFS: Building Good Habits

The children’s musical journey will begin the moment they start St Louis. They will learn to sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs which link to the Early Learning Goal ‘Being imaginative and expressive’. By performing songs and rhymes, the children will begin to try and move in time with the music and will be introduced to the key vocabulary, tempo and beat.

KS1: Journey of Discovery

Using EYFS as a stepping stone into KS1, children will now begin to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. Throughout KS1, children’s concentration will develop which will enable them to listen to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.

We will play tuned and untuned instruments musically, whilst experimenting and creating a variety of sounds to create music.

KS2: Broadening Horizons

At St Louis, children in KS2 build upon their musical skills developed in KS1 and will be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They will develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. This will be evident by children playing and performing individually and in groups, improvising and composing music, listening intently to music, beginning to understand musical notation, and appreciating high quality live and record music from great composers and musicians.

Throughout all our music lessons, the above aims for music lessons are taught through many differing music activities (including composing music and building on our musical vocabulary) and finally performing. Through repetition of musical activities, children will deepen their understanding of musical concepts and be able to apply these across the musical genres - therefore seeing the relevance of their learning. This learning is then able to be reflected upon when they assess where their musical learning started and where it finished with the final performance.

Assessment

As part of our music assessment, we produce digital evidence from our initial music lesson and our final performance music lesson so that clear progression can be seen. We reflect upon musical and general learning by watching both videos back and gather students’ reactions, comments, feelings and progress. This will inform and help shape our next lesson and its focus.

Impact: The outcomes pupils achieve

Children will be able to discuss the musical period and artist/s they have been learning about. They will be able to critically appraise artists and musical periods using appropriate vocabulary such as: tempo and pitch. Whilst following Charanga, the children will have access to a varied and engaging programme, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas to improve upon.