Music

“Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity.”

(National Curriculum 2014)

Curriculum Cycle A 2021 - 2022 Curriculum Cycle B 2022 - 2023

Music Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Chaddleworth St. Andrew’s and Shefford Federated Primary Schools, we believe that all our children should have access to the highest quality music education delivered by music experts (Berkshire Maestros) as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Throughout their time at our school, all our children will be given the opportunity to sing, play musical instruments and create their own music. Our children will benefit from listening to the very best that every genre of music has to offer. The joy of listening to and participating in live performances will be experienced by all whilst in our school, creating memories that will last a life time.

Our carefully planned music curriculum ensures that all our pupils build their skills and knowledge, allowing them to perform, compose and listen with increasing insight.

Implementation 

We engage with specialist teachers from Berkshire Maestros to deliver our music curriculum. All elements of the Early Years Framework and National Curriculum are covered and so much more, ensuring music is a key part of school life at Chaddleworth St. Andrew’s and Shefford Federated Primary Schools.

Weekly Pantomimus sessions as well as classroom activities ensure our EYFS and KS1 pupils are exposed to a range of musical genres and a wealth of opportunities to play, sing, compose, listen, perform and evaluate.

KS2 pupils receive specialist Music teaching for a minimum of 1 hour per week. They 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 improvisation and compositions.

Throughout KS2 all children have the experience of learning a musical instrument. The In2Music curriculum is a whole class instrumental teaching programme which allows children to apply their understanding of creating notes and practise reading basic music notation. They also learn how to compose, focussing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing or analysing music. There is a weekly choir available to all KS2 pupils and we do encourage and support those who have expressed an interest / talent for music to take part.

All pupils have the opportunity to express themselves musically in the above sessions as well as during singing worship, during performances such as such as our Harvest celebration, Nativity, Carol Concert, Easter performance and end of year performances. They experience live performances such as visiting the theatre at Christmas, participating in a production at our local theatre The Watermill, at the Junior Music Festival, Soundstage Rock Band project and Music Mayhem.

We also offer small group tuition and 1:1 lessons in guitar, drumming, Ukulele, singing, saxophone and piano (these are subject to change as pupil interviews take place throughout the year to ensure that pupil voice is heard regarding the school’s music offer).

Impact

Berkshire Maestros units of learning are tailored to the needs of our pupils and follow a spiral curriculum where previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built on enabling a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills. Progression through the units of learning allow children to learn concepts in an integrated, practical and exploratory way.

The impact of our Music curriculum and its implementation will lead to: 

• Excellent progress over time for all children across the key stages relative to their individual starting point and their progression of skills.

• An awareness and appreciation of different musical genres.

• An excellent understanding of culture and history, both in relation to children individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world which contribute to the diversity of musical styles.

• An enjoyment of music either as listener, creator or performer.

• A love of music and wealth of musical ability that can be built further upon, now and in the future. 

A record of those children who take part in additional music tuition, both inside and outside of school, is updated regularly throughout the year to ensure that we are aware of musical talent and encourage them to perform in assemblies and productions. 

We are very proud of our musical achievements and have been awarded the Music Mark in recognition of our commitment to providing a high-quality music education for all children