Music

Intent

At Beaconsfield Primary School our Music curriculum aims to:

• Provide an enjoyable and challenging music curriculum which gives all pupils the opportunity to sing, play, create and perform, both individually and collaboratively.
• Bring lessons that are inclusive and developmentally appropriate for different age groups and specific needs of the children, while still allowing opportunities for students to stretch and challenge themselves.
• Build a musical foundation and build on skills and knowledge throughout the years.
• Equip pupils with the necessary skills required to become confident in their ability to create, compose, perform and listen.
• Expose pupils to music from around the world through the folk music based curriculum.
• Build an in-depth understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music with the ability to describe music using key terms (e.g. pitch, pulse, rhythm, tempo, dynamics).
• Give pupils an increased awareness of different genres of music and music from other countries and to be able to improvise and create music in different styles and metres, including compound time.
• Provide pupils with the knowledge and skills to be able to read and transcribe stave notation using simple and compound time, complex rhythms, including dotted rhythms, and a full diatonic scale.
• Establish in our pupils a passion to learn and share their love of music.
• Teach pupils to reflect on, analyse and critically evaluate their own work and that of others, enabling them to experiment and persevere, which links to the development of their 'Growth Mindset'.

Please click here to read our 'Music Development Plan' which sets out how the school will deliver high quality curriculum, co-curricular and enrichment for all pupils and includes a ‘Music Progression Strategy’ of how will pupils pursue music beyond the core curriculum. 

Our Curriculum

The following factors have been taken into consideration when designing our Music curriculum:

• The curriculum map incorporates the necessary learning outlined in the National Curriculum and EYFS framework through a series of half-termly units that support the development of pupils’ musical skills and provide cross-curricular links with other subjects.
• Collaboration with specialist music provider ‘Sing Education’ ensures that pupils have access to high-quality, specialist teaching that provides pupils with a deep subject knowledge and love of learning.
• We recognise the need to ensure our pupils are fully prepared to become global citizens within the framework of British Values. This is achieved in Music by exposing pupils to a range of music from different genres (e.g. Folk Music) and periods of time.
• An improved understanding and respect for cultural differences is developed through pupils’ participation in musical productions for the wider school community.
• Issues relating to gender stereotypes are incorporated into our music provision by pupils being exposed to a range of music by both male and female composers and performers, as well as gender not having an impact on the roles chosen for pupils in our musical productions.
• Music provision is planned to develop the growth of characteristics such as tolerance, perseverance, cooperation and creativity by ensuring all pupils have access to a range of listening, singing, composing and performing opportunities both individually and as part of a group.
• The curriculum design for Music supports the development of core Literacy skills, by exposing pupils to subject material that is vocabulary-rich from an early age, for example, through the use and application of technical terms and Tier 2 vocabulary.
• Opportunities for pupils to develop their reading skills have been embedded into the Music curriculum through the resources provided in lessons and recommended reading lists provided in each year group’s Knowledge Web.
• Our Music curriculum provides plenty of opportunities for pupils to apply their transferable Maths skills through the regular exploration of rhythm, pulse and musical notation.

Please find the Music overviews for each year group below:

Nursery - click here

Reception - click here

Year 1 - click here

Year 2 - click here

Year 3 - click here

Year 4 - click here

Year 5 - click here

Year 6 - click here

Assessment in Music

The primary reason for assessment is to provide the pupil and the teacher with vital information which can then be used to improve future teaching and learning. Teachers will use a range of strategies to gain information about how well a child has understood a concept during the lesson including the use of effective questioning and the answers given in weekly music lessons. Appropriate feedback and peer or self-assessment are then be used to provide children with the information they need to continue to make rapid progress.

On a weekly basis, music teachers will evaluate each lesson and identify steps which need to be taken to address any gaps in learning or misconceptions.  They also assess pupils’ progress over the course of each topic.

Parents are able to discuss the progress their children are making in Music informally at any point during and are also invited to Parent Open Evenings once every term. End of year reports include a summative assessment of pupils’ progress across the year.

Enrichment opportunities

Examples of enrichment experiences which take place regularly include KS1 and KS2 Choirs, Recorder Club, Ukulele and Music Performances for parents and carers. Opportunities for pupils to watch live music performances such as a visit to watch a West End production are provided (COVID restrictions allowing) in addition to utilising the resources from our local bridge organisation to seek out performers to visit the school.

How to Support Your Child at Home

In the document below you will find a range of activities which have been selected to match the Music Curriculum that your child is studying in school. They can be used to further support your child’s development of their musical skills at home and help you to understand more about what your child is learning about in Music.

Please click here to download the document.