Statement of Intent – what does the music curriculum intend to do?
At Ham Dingle we intend that children should master Music to such an extent that they can go on to have careers within music and make use of music effectively in their everyday lives. Our children will be taught Music in a way that ensures progression of skills, and follows a sequence to build on previous learning. Our children will gain experience and skills of a wide range of dimensions of music in a way that will enhance their learning opportunities, enabling them to use music in a wide variety of contexts, ensuring they make progress. In addition to this, we intend to give each child experience in learning an instrument during their time with us at Ham Dingle.
Implementation – how is the curriculum implemented?
We follow a broad and balanced Music curriculum that builds on previous learning and provides both support and challenge for learners.
We follow a music scheme that ensures progression of skills and covers all aspects of the Music curriculum. All classes have a scheduled Music lesson each week for one hour. We want to ensure that Music is embedded in our whole school curriculum and that opportunities for enhancing learning by using music are always taken. Therefore, we also have a focus-composer of the half term. This immerses children in classical music from composers around the world and of different ethnicities. In Year 6, children are taught an instrument through specialist teaching to align with the expectations of the Model Music Curriculum.
Lessons follow the structure:
| Working Purposefully |
| Retrieve and Recall |
Vocabulary Instruction |
Attention Grabber |
Main Event |
Wrapping Up |
| Two-three questions based on prior learning that children can answer on a whiteboard. |
Explicit teaching of any new vocabulary that the children will need for the lesson. |
A task or activity to engage the children in what they will be learning during the main event. |
Modelling, demonstrating and applying the main learning of the lesson. |
Reflecting on the learning that has taken place during the lesson and how it is going to feed into next lesson. |
As a school, we follow Rosenshine’s Priniples of Instruction and Cognitive Load Theory to provide lessons that are engaging and manageable and the ensure that knowledge is achievable and sticks. Teachers implement these strategies in every lesson and this consistent approach supports the teaching of Music at each stage and in all year groups.
Pupils with SEND:
We are an inclusive school, and strive to ensure our curriculum is accessible to all. Learning is a right and must meet the needs of each pupil. The pupils who have been identified as having a SEND need, will be planned for appropriately by the class teacher under the guidance and advice of the SENCo and/or additional agencies. Dependent on the pupil’s need, this may be through adult support, scaffolds or differentiated tasks. In cases where a pupil has an EHCP, bespoke provision is provided, appropriate to the needs of the pupil.
Impact – what progress will children make?
Our children enjoy and value Music at Ham Dingle. Children understand and appreciate the value of music in the context of their personal wellbeing and the creative and cultural industries and their many career opportunities. Progress in Music is demonstrated through regularly reviewing and scrutinising children’s work, in accordance with our Curriculum Assessment Framework to ensure that progression of skills is taking place. Namely through:
- Looking at pupils’ recordings, especially over time as they gain skills and knowledge
- Observing how they perform in lessons
- Talking to them about what they know
The Music curriculum will contribute to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. This would be seen in them being able to talk confidently about their work, and sharing their work with others. Progress will be shown through outcomes and through the important record of the process leading to them.
Aims of the Music Curriculum
The national curriculum for Music aims to ensure that all pupils:
In Key Stage 1:
- Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
- Play tuned and untuned instruments musically
- Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high quality live and recorded music
- Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music
In Key Stage 2:
- Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
- Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music
- Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.
- Use and understand the stave and other musical notations. The musical elements of pitch, duration, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure are progressively introduced
- Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
- Develop an understanding of the history of music
Click here to see our Sequencing Map
Click here to see our One Page Overview
Click here to see our Curriculum Map and Assessment Framework
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Miss Andrews