Aims

The music curriculum at Staveley CE Primary has been carefully designed to fulfil the statutory requirements of Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum with our Christian vision at the heart.

Music is a universal and fully inclusive language that enables all children to express their individual talents and creativity. At Staveley School, we believe that music lessons should inspire children to develop a love of music, develop creativity and broaden their experiences.

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

What do we teach in Music?

We offer all our children a wide range of experiences to enable them to engage with music from in class lessons, music lessons and wider opportunities. Through the in class lessons we want children to develop their knowledge and skills in all areas of music.

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.

How is music taught at Staveley CE School?

Each class has a weekly music lesson which includes the opportunity for children to listen to a wide range of music and musical styles, sing, play a range of percussion instruments, compose and perform their own music.

Planning is taken from Charanga Musical School and covers the requirements of the National Curriculum.

Children in Year 3 and 4 learn to play the African Djembe drum and have half termly visits from Master Drummer Zozo.

Each week the children engage in singing worship and engage in a range of opportunities for live performance e.g. Good Work Assembly, Church Services, School Plays and engagement with Cumbria Music Hub – Big Sing and Big Play. During the Autumn term the children are offered the opportunity to join a choir led by musical director of the Staveley Choral Society which culminates in participation at their Christmas Concert.

We also offer music lessons to children who would like to take their music skills beyond the classroom. Currently we offer: guitar, piano, violin.

Impact

Children will develop the skills and knowledge to be able to reflect on the musical world whilst developing a love and interest in music.

They will be able to articulate themselves using musical vocabulary and develop and express musical tastes and opinions.

Children will perform and show their skills and musical knowledge with confidence. The evidence of skills will be clear to see in performances. The confidence and communication skills gained are transferrable to many other curriculum areas and aspects of life.