Music

Intent

At The Rosary Catholic Primary School, we believe that music is a unique way of communicating that can inspire and motivate children. It is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity.

In delivering the National curriculum, we provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music, and to develop the skills to critically appreciate a wide variety of musical forms. This, in turn, will increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

To have a sense of curiosity and enjoyment

To encourage our children’s understanding and enjoyment of music through an active involvement in listening, composing and performing

To have experience of Cultural Capital in a variety of different forms

To be inspired by the experiences and achievements of past musicians, composers, singers and songwriters
To show children how music is influenced by the time, place and purpose for which it was written

To be resilient, independent and self-motivated pupils

To ensure high-quality music education engages and inspires pupils to develop a love of music and begin/develop their talent as musicians

To ask questions and to problem solve

To be curious and ask questions about the style of music, where in the world it is from and when it was written
To evaluate their singing and playing of musical instruments to develop their confidence and techniques

To be global citizens of the twenty first century

To ensure children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts

To make comparisons between different eras and civilisations and how the social and cultural impacts changed the style and development of music
To develop the vocabulary of music: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations

Our intention is that our pupils will leave The Rosary Catholic Primary School with a love of music and desire to continue developing their talents as musicians.

Implementation

A Bespoke Curriculum: At The Rosary, we use the ‘Charanga Music School’ Scheme of work which supports all of the requirements of the National Curriculum and gives children access to a wide range of musical concepts and experiences. The ‘Charanga Musical School’ Scheme provides teachers with week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the school. It is ideal for specialist and non- specialist teachers and provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson.

The Scheme supports all the requirements of the new National Curriculum and is absolutely in line with published OFSTED guidance. The learning within this scheme is based on: Listening and Appraising; Musical Activities - creating and exploring; and Singing and Performing.

Cross Curricular Links: The teaching of Music enhances other curriculum areas. Great care has been taken to create unique Music lessons outside of the ‘Charanga Music School’ Scheme of work, to link with certain topics taught in other subjects (History, Geography and Science). For example, in Year 4 History the children learn about the Ancient Egyptians. To enhance this learning within music lessons, teachers can choose for them to study Ancient Egyptian instruments. The children can also learn about the importance of music and dance in Ancient Egypt, and how these were highly valued for funerary banquets and religious processions. This, in turn, can lead onto their studying of the gods, and how the Egyptians celebrated their gods through dance.

Linked Learning in all Year groups:

Progression throughout ‘Charanga Music School’ reinforces the interrelated dimensions of music.

With each new song, the children start again with the foundation of pulse, then rhythm, then pitch, adding new dimensions as they progress.

This represents an ever increasing spiral of musical learning.

Enriching the Music Curriculum: We believe that music enriches the lives of people, and so we wish to involve as many children as possible in musical activities. We have a school choir - which we encourage children from year 5 and 6 onwards to join. The choir meets on a weekly basis and, although its primary aim is to enable children to enjoy singing together, it also performs in public on a number of occasions throughout the year, such as Young Voices, and School/Parish Fairs. The school choir also sings at School Masses.

We also provide other special opportunities for children in all year groups to perform, such as in class assemblies, Christmas Productions (Juniors and Infants) and Summer Productions (Year 6).

Children in all Year groups are given the opportunity to learn how to play the guitar delivered by a peripatetic teacher and paid for by parents.

In addition, children in Year 3 receive ukulele lessons for 1 term with a specialist teacher. This is to promote a love of learning how to play a musical instrument, which they will hopefully continue.

Pedagogy: Our main teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Children are taught to make music together, to understand musical notation, and to compose pieces. They are also taught to sing and play in time controlling the sound and pace. They are taught different ways to represent sounds graphically and symbolically.

Inclusion: We teach music to all children, whatever their ability and individual needs. Through our music teaching we provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make progress. We do this by setting suitable learning challenges and responding to each child’s different need.

We strive hard to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, those with disabilities, those with special gifts and talents, and those learning English as an additional language, and we take all reasonable steps to achieve this.

Reading and composing music: Pupils are given plentiful opportunities to read and compose their own music. Within the ‘Charanga Music School’ children can:

create their own simple melodies using a variety of different notes.
Plan and create a section of music that can be performed in front of their peers. 
Talk about how it was created.
Listen to and reflect upon the developing composition and make musical decisions about pulse, rhythm, pitch, dynamics and tempo.
Record the composition in any way appropriate that recognises the connection between sound and symbol (e.g. graphic/pictorial notation).

Impact

We measure the impact of the Music Curriculum in the following ways:

In-Class Feedback: Teachers provide immediate verbal feedback to pupils in class and identify misconceptions as they occur. Children are also given opportunities to watch performances by their peers and give feedback.

Assessment: We follow Charanga’s Musical School Assessment Framework, which enables teachers in England to respond to Ofsted’s key lines of enquiry concerning the Intent, Implementation and Impact of music education in their school.

We assess children's knowledge and understanding by questioning, listening and observation of performance in class as an on-going process. Recorded performances (audio or video) are excellent means of keeping evidence within this subject.

At the end of a unit of work, the teacher makes a summary judgement about the work of each pupil in relation to the National Curriculum level of attainment.

School reports: School reports are issued at the end of the school year.

At The Rosary Catholic Primary School we believe that music education is integral for children to develop their individual skills, sharing experience and cooperating with others. Engaging in music has supported children in developing their speech and encourages strengthening of bonds with their classmates.

In short, it supports our desire to:

Aspire, Believe, Achieve: Together in Christ.

21^st Century World; 21^st Century Learners

Useful Websites

Music

Intent

Implementation

Impact

Useful Websites

Positive Background Music for Children

Classical Music for Children

Pop Songs for Children

Music for Studying