Intent

The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• 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.

Lord Street’s intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, analysing and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions and musical genres. Our objective is to develop curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the importance of all types of music. We are committed to ensuring the children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community, and can use their musical skills, knowledge, and experience to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts. All children will ensure that they are following their School Values: Ambition, Respect and Collaboration.

Lord Street’s intent is to first and foremost help children to feel that they are musical, and to develop a lifelong love of music. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that our children need to become confident performers, composers and listeners. Our curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations, teaching children to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities.

Our children will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Through music, our curriculum helps children develop transferable skills such as team working, leadership, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making and presentation and performance skills. These skills are vital to children’s development as learners and have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond school.

Our scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets outlined in the National Curriculum and the aims of the scheme align with those in the National Curriculum.

• Music will be taught as a stand-alone subject
• It will be taught for 1 hour per week
• Topics to be taught are outlined in the Music curriculum plan and there must be no deviations from this.

Implementation

Teachers create a positive attitude to Music learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all pupils can achieve high standards.

Our music scheme takes a holistic approach, in which the individual strands below are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences.

• Performing
• Listening
• Composing
• The history of music
• The inter-related dimensions of music

Each five-lesson unit combines these strands within a cross-curricular topic designed to capture the children’s imagination and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically. Throughout the scheme children will be taught how to sing fluently and expressively and play tuned and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated dimensions of music – pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics – and use these expressively in their own improvisations and compositions.

The instrumental scheme lessons allow lower key stage pupils to develop their expertise in using a tuned instrument for a minimum of one term as recommended in the model music curriculum.

Our scheme follows the spiral curriculum model where previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built upon. Our children progress in terms of tackling more complex tasks and doing more simple tasks better, as well as developing understanding and knowledge of the history of music, and other musical notations, as well as the interrelated dimensions of music.

In each lesson our children will actively participate in musical activities drawn from a range of styles and traditions, developing their musical skills and their understanding of how music works. Lessons will incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work as well as improvisations and teacher led performances. Lessons are hands-on and incorporate movement and dance elements, as well as making cross-curricula links with other areas of learning.

Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust music curriculum. Each of the units within the scheme include multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support on-going CPD, aiding teachers in their own acquisition of musical skills and knowledge.

Enrichment

• Choir practice is held weekly
• We will enter the Last Choir Singing Competition
• Participate in the Young Voices Manchester