Music

 Vision

All musicians at Thomas Reade are inspired through the music they listen to and compose.  Children grow in confidence as they try out their musical ideas, using different instruments, individually and in groups.  Singing towards group performances inspires group cohesion and motivation, giving children great enjoyment and a sense of pride.

Working on cross-curricular content enables children to feel passionate about their learning and this enables them to become more embedded within it and learn at a deeper level.

Intent

We believe that music is a unique way of communicating that inspires and motivates children; especially children who may not access the traditional curriculum fully.

We enable Music to become a vehicle for personal expression, thereby facilitating personal development.

Music teaching enables children to better understand the community and world we live in, as it inherently reflects our culture.

Music demands the use of many skills all at once, making it a highly academic demanding subject which facilitates learning in many others.

Lessons throughout each Year Group are designed to enable children to have the opportunities to sing, play, compose and listen thereby developing understanding of different musical forms.

Over Key Stage two – children will be taught to play guitar for one entire year – learning to read notation from the staff and play and compose songs as a solo or ensemble.

Our intent through lessons is to:

• - Develop the child, as a whole, through engagement in musical activity – which is rooted in the skills our children will need for later life.
• - Use interesting resources and varied teaching styles to ensure full engagement in all activities.
• - Explore and understand how sounds are made and can be organised into musical structures – from music we listen to and music we make.
• - Develop the interrelated skills of composition, performance and musical appreciation – ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum.
• - Develop and nurture pupils’ sense of self and allow them opportunity to explore and access musical activities within their own ability.

Music plans show that there is clear progression, building on what has been taught before and with clear continuity from one year to the next.

The Music curriculum is carefully planned to link into topics being studied in class making it more relevant and interesting for children; with sequenced lessons having a clear beginning and end point.

Implementation

Our teaching builds confidence through music teaching and develops concentration for longer in more extended pieces of music. Our children learn:

• - Singing skills (tune, time) in each unit of work, with fun songs linked to topic and age ranges
• - About structure and organisation of music by listening to relevant recorded and live performances and learn to describe using emotions and feelings
• - Disciplined skills of rhythm and pulse – with increased accuracy, fluency and control each year.
• - To make music together, understand notation and compose pieces – for a range of purposes and with increasing aural memory.
• - How to perform rhythms and melodies in solo and ensemble groups.
• - Open-ended tasks which have a variety of responses and outcomes.
• - Bronze, Silver and Gold Learning objectives so that they can clearly see the building of skills throughout the lesson.
• - to use 'Top Tips' and self-evaluation within the lesson to learn from each other and make suggestions for self-improvement.
• Our 'Going for Gold' stimulus for all learners, motivates and encourages all children to strive and do their best.

Impact

Children achieve well in Music achieving aim of the National Curriculum at the end of each Key Stage. The behaviour of our learners demonstrates high enjoyment during lessons. Our Music curriculum enable learners to discover interests and talents beyond the academic and facilitates development of resilience and independence – including the feeling of positivity music brings. The lessons allow children who already learn music to join in at their level, with extension activities designed to challenge them. The children will leave school being able to join in with guitar playing at a folk level enabling them to enjoy it for themselves, play along with pop music as well as foster interest in playing other instruments.