• To promote positive attitudes and enthusiasm for music.
• To ensure the children progress and develop their musical understanding.
• To appreciate how music has developed and changed over the course of history.
• To enable children to use instruments and ICT to compose their own music either for its own separate purpose or to combine with other aspects of the curriculum.
• To offer opportunities to perform, compose, listen and appraise.

Performing skills

Children will be taught to sing a wide ranging variety of songs and to use their voices

expressively. They have the opportunity to play tuned and un-tuned instruments with

increasing control and rehearse and perform with others, with an awareness of audience.

Composing skills

Children create musical patterns and are shown how to explore, select and organise musical ideas, recording and performing these in a variety of ways, (e.g.: pictorial score, by means of a digital recorder, tape recorder or video or using notation).

Listening and applying knowledge and understanding

Children have the opportunity to listen with concentration and to internalise and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.

They will:

• Develop a growing awareness of the eight musical elements: pitch, duration, pace, dynamics, texture, timbre, form, silence.
• Learn that time and place can influence the way music is created, performed and heard,
• Learn that music is produced in different ways and is described through invented and standard notations.

Appraising skills

Children are given the opportunity to explore and explain their own ideas and feelings about music, using music, dance, expressive language and musical vocabulary. They analyse and compare sounds and become confident at suggesting improvements for their own work and that of others.

Our children receive lessons which follow our scheme Kapow. Lessons are progressive and build upon prior learning. Vocabulary is repeated and built upon year on year. Key learning has been identified and is revised as much as possible. Music teaching at St. Edward’s is via discrete Kapow lessons, but will also sometimes link to the topic currently being taught in each year group. 

Rochdale Music Service delivers whole class music tuition to Year 3. In these sessions the children are taught to play the violin. Whole class music tuition is for the whole year, for 1 hour per week.

There is provision for children to pay for lessons provided by peripatetic music teachers in the following: guitar; violin; cornet and piano.

Teachers often listen to music or use songs to support their lessons, and children have the opportunity to sing every day as part of our Act of Worship.

The Head teacher and Assistant Head lead weekly singing assemblies which include song learning and music appreciation.

Children are given the chance to perform at various times during the year in shows, plays, assemblies, KS2 carol concert etc. Christmas choir is popular with KS2 children.

Those children with a particular interest or aptitude in Music are given the opportunity to extend their education in a variety of ways, for example, choir or instrumental performances in Assembly/class - show and tell. We also have an end of year Music Concert where classes, choir and individuals showcase what they have been learning throughout the year.

Class teachers use assessment for learning to inform their class teaching and use adaptive teaching to ensure all children are able to access lessons.

Pupil Premium money is sometimes used at the headteacher’s discretion to pay for peripatetic music lessons.

We have identified some areas in which some of our children face barriers when they are accessing the curriculum, and we intend to deliver the Music curriculum with an approach that addresses these:

Vocabulary – during music lessons children will be given opportunities to learn music-specific vocabulary in a meaningful context. There is a musical vocabulary progression document which teachers use.

Communication skills – Like singing, playing music instruments and learning music supports many skills that underlie communication. Children are given plenty of opportunities within music lessons to express their thoughts and feelings in response to music. 

Teamwork skills – as part of St Edward’s Music development plan, the power of individual children creating music as one and performing in concerts/festivals collectively helps promote teamwork.

Resilience – Music, particularly singing, helps people stay resilient. It reduces feelings of anxiety and stress, helps children regulate their emotions, improves concentration and on-task behaviour and enhances the way children can process language and speech.

Ambition

All children can achieve at their own level in music. Music could be an opportunity for children who experience difficulties in other areas to excel. We hold high ambitions for all pupils within the music curriculum. Their special educational needs should not be considered a limiting factor, and all children should be encouraged to participate fully. 

Access (How we may support children with SEND to achieve in Music)

Possible adaptations we may make to support all children to access the music curriculum at St Edward's include:

Children are exposed to lots of music in Reception. We listen to a great variety of music so that children hear music they may not have heard in their life outside of school.

We have a musical instrument area so that children can experiment and play to create their own sounds.

Children listen to musical stories and discuss how different instruments are used for particular effects.

Songs are used to support learning across the curriculum. They are also used regularly to develop reading fluency.

We use call and response rhythms daily to develop rhythmical awareness. 

In preparation for music lessons in Year One, Reception children have a weekly lesson from the school's Kapow scheme of work.