Music at Cholsey

‘Music is the universal language of mankind’ (Henry Longfellow)

Intent

At Cholsey Primary School, the music curriculum intends to inspire creativity and self-expression. It encourages the children to enjoy their own musical journeys as well as giving them the opportunity to connect with others. We believe that music plays an integral role in helping children to feel part of a community, therefore we provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music. Through these musical experiences, we hope to foster a lifelong love of music and an understanding of the diversity of the form.

The aims of our music curriculum are to develop pupils who:

• Enjoy and have an appreciation for music in its many forms
• Have opportunities to play a wide variety of instruments
• Can sing and use their voices to create different effects
• Create and compose music, both on their own and with others
• Use a range of musical language
• Take part in performances with an awareness of audience

Implementation

Class music teaching at Cholsey Primary School is delivered using the Charanga Scheme of work in years one to six which ensures National Curriculum coverage. The scheme is organised into six half-termly units which are followed by class teachers. Each unit of work has an on-going musical learning focus and lessons usually follow a specific learning sequence:

• musical warmup (including pulse and rhythm)
• listen and appraise
• singing and voice
• playing instruments
• improvisation/composition
• performing and sharing

During their time in EYFS, music is an integral part of the children’s learning journey. Children experience a wide range of songs and rhymes and develop the skills for performing together. Music making opportunities are available as part of the continuous provision and are also used to embed learning, develop musical awareness and to demonstrate how music can be used to express feelings.

Whilst in year two, all children receive recorder lessons as a whole class from a specialist teacher. These lessons allow children to learn to play an instrument as part of an ensemble and to engender a love of music learning. In addition to our curriculum provision for music, pupils in years 3 to 6 also have the option to participate in additional 1:1 music teaching in a variety of instruments. We currently offer woodwind, brass and piano lessons.

 Children also participate in a range of performances during their school career. These include nativities in key stage 1 , harvest festivals, carol concerts and end of year productions in key stage 2. These performances allow children to sing both individually and as part of an ensemble. At Cholsey, we also organise visits and workshops from professional musicians such as the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. These visits allow the children to experience high quality playing and broaden their exposure to live music.

Click here to see the music curriculum across the school.

Impact

Whilst in school, children have opportunities to explore and progress on their own musical journey. This allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. Our children will understand the value of music in the world and will be able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose, either as listener, creator or performer. The study of music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. We measure the impact of our music curriculum by pupil interviews, evidence of the pupils’ practical learning and assessment of progress.