Music Curriculum

Intent:

At St Joseph and St Teresa’s Primary School we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage all children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up their love of music, self- confidence and sense of achievement.

Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to, sing in tune and with other people, play untuned musical instruments with increasing control, fluency and expression and listen critically to a wide range of music from different periods, genres, styles and traditions.

As children progress through the school they will increasingly understand and  explore how music is created, produced and communicated through the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and musical notation. By Key stage 2 children will begin to improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music.

Implementation: 

We teach music in Reception classes as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. In the Early Years, music contributes to a child’s development in the area of expressive arts and design. Key stage 1 and 2 children are taught music by their class teacher largely in 3 half termly blocks although some aspects of music learning are ongoing throughout the year.

We  use Kapow (an on line resource) to support our music teaching as it is a very  clear and comprehensive scheme of work which covers all the national curriculum requirements in a full and progressive way.

Across the school we choose pieces of music from the Kapow Listening centre to encourage active listening to music from different genres and eras on a weekly basis.

Children throughout the school sing in assemblies.

Singing plays a prominent part in all school productions at Christmas, Easter and at the End of the School year.

At our school we teach music to all children, whatever their ability. Music forms part of the school curriculum policy to provide a broad and balanced education to all children. Assessment against the National Curriculum allows us to consider each child’s attainment and progress against expectations.

Teachers assess children’s work in music by making informal judgements as they observe them during lessons.

Additional evidence may be gained during school performances or other relevant events, and may be presented in the form of recordings or photographs. The attainment of each child is indicated annually in the end of year report.

Spring Term 2023: Music with Y4 & Y5 with Wells Cathedral School

On Wednesday 1st March, we had the pleasure of having a few students from the Cathedral school join us for a music session. The session began with a wonderful song introduction, and then the kids received a quick education on musical elements. The children were then given the opportunity to stand up and sing. Dividing into two groups, they both sang verses from "Uptown Funk," joined by the students from the Cathedral School.

The children then had a chance to write their own song. The group got together in advance to write some lyrics using a specific pattern. A melodic line was developed with the group leaders' expert assistance, and a "school song" based on the school's values was formed.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the session and came out with a some of the songs stuck in their heads! 

Thank you!