Music

Intent 

We have chosen to deliver the Kapow Music scheme of work to meet the aims of the EYFS framework and the national curriculum. The intent is to ensure that Music lessons are an enjoyable experience for pupils and teaching staff.  First and foremost, we aim to help children to feel that they are musical and to develop a life-long love of music. The focus is on developing skills, knowledge and understanding so that children can become confident performers, composers, and listeners. The Kapow curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations, teaching children to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities. 

Implementation 

Children will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Through music, our curriculum helps children develop transferable skills such as team-working, leadership, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and presentation and performance skills. These skills are vital to children’s development as learners and have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond school. Our cyclical scheme of work aims to increase depth of knowledge and build on prior skills. It is based on the following 5 key strands:  

• Listening and evaluating
• Creating sound
• Notation
• Improvising and composing
• Performing 

These are interwoven to create engaging and enriching lessons.  

Each half-term unit combines these strands within a cross-curricular topic which captures pupils’ imagination, encouraging them to explore music enthusiastically. Children will be taught how to sing fluently and expressively, and play tuned and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise, demonstrate and name the interrelated dimensions of music - pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics - and use these expressively in their own improvisations and compositions. 

Children at Salhouse have opportunities to join a Salsa band, play ukulele in our weekly singing assemblies and take individual music lessons. Music is an integral part of the school day, featuring in Collective Worship and our fun music assemblies. Church services linked to the Christian calendar and school performances also enable the children to enjoy music. Each year the school participates in the Norfolk County Music Festival.

Impact 

The impact of our teaching is constantly monitored through formative and summative assessment through learning objectives within each lesson and an end of unit performance.  

Pupils leave Salhouse equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and to be able to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives. We expect that children will: 

 ✓ Be confident performers, composers and listeners and will be able to express themselves musically at and beyond school.  

✓ Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world and will understand how music is influenced by the wider cultural, social, and historical contexts in which it is developed.  

Understand the various ways in which music can be written down to support performing and composing activities. 

 ✓ Demonstrate and articulate an enthusiasm for music and be able to identify their own personal musical preferences.  

✓ Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Music.