Music
Intent
At Bishop Wilson, our Music curriculum is one that is accessible to all and gives every child the opportunity to experience enjoyment through a variety of musical activities and to respond to musical emotions. We aim for all children, irrespective of background, race or gender to:
- Develop positive attitudes and to experience success and satisfaction in music.
- Develop social skills through co-operation with others in the shared experience of music making.
- Develop an understanding of musical traditions and enhance performance skills by learning and performing music in a variety of cultures.
- Have the opportunity to perform music both vocally and with instruments and encourage high standards in performance.
- Compose music and express their ideas and feelings through music.
- Experience listening to music of a variety of styles and cultures
- Develop an appreciation of the richness of our musical heritage
- Experience an array of performance opportunities so they can feel part of a community.
- Express ideas and opinions about music and develop an appropriate vocabulary to help them understand and discuss their own work and that of others.
- Have the opportunity to develop their musical talents
Implementation
At Bishop Wilson, teachers use Kapow’s condensed Music curriculum to plan and deliver high quality Music lessons to pupils, starting in the EYFS through to Year 6. It ensures a broad and balanced coverage of the National Curriculum and provides pupils with a range of opportunities. It is a scheme which also supports cross-curricular links to all subjects. Kapow’s Curriculum has been designed as a spiral curriculum with the following key principles in mind:
cyclical: pupils revisit the key areas throughout KS1 and KS2.
increasing depth: each time a key area is revisited, it is taught with greater complexity.
prior knowledge: upon returning to each key area, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build on previous foundations, rather than starting again.
EYFS
The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is based on seven areas of learning aiming to promote all aspects of a child's development. Music comes under the 'Expressive Arts and Design' area of learning within 'Creating with Materials' and 'Being Imaginative and Expressive'.
ELG: Creating with Materials
Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
Share their creations, explaining the process they have used
ELG: Being Imaginative and Expressive
Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher
Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs
Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music
Child-led learning also plays a large part in the Early Years curriculum. Children are supported in their use of music as part of child-led play, whether singing songs, listening to music, dancing or playing instruments.
EYFS music lessons are also supported through use of the “Music Development Matters in EYFS” guidance.
Key Stage 1 and 2
Music is a foundation subject in the National Curriculum. The fundamental skills, knowledge and concepts of the subject are set out in National Curriculum 2014:
Key Stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
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.
Key Stage 2
Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
Pupils should be taught to:
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.
At Bishop Wilson, we use Kapow to support our teaching of the Music National Curriculum, which provides us with consistency and progression across all key stages. For each year group, the curriculum is broken down into concepts and is taught in units. Each unit is divided into steps, lessons. Step by step, strong foundations of knowledge and understanding are built upon.
A typical lesson using Kapow Music lasts approximately one hour. Music is taught weekly in Key Stages 1 and 2 over four half terms. Children are taught in mixed ability classes throughout the school. The learning in each lesson focuses on objectives and cross-curricular connections are made where possible. Lessons incorporate a range of strategies from independent tasks, paired work as well as whole class. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to all learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to stretch pupils exceeding and those needing more support.
Kapow Music lessons in both key stages follow the same sequence:
Step 1 - Attention grabber
Step 2 - Main event (the children having a go)
Step 3 - Wrapping up (time for reflection)
Assessment
Assessment for Learning in Music is present through the use of learning objectives and success criteria. Teachers use them to continually assess children through observation and monitoring work. Teachers provide as much live, verbal feedback within lesson time. As part of the Kapow sequence, End of Unit assessments are completed by the pupils to enable teachers to track progress effectively and provide further intervention.
Home Learning and Useful Links
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/primary-music-ks1--ks2-index/z6762sg
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z7tnvcw
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zwxhfg8
Play It! - Free primary school music player from Bring The Noise for EYFS and KS1 - BBC Teach
Nursery Rhymes and Songs - A to Z - BBC Teach