Intention

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity – The National Curriculum We have designed our Music curriculum so that our learners:

- Develop a passion for music, in which pupils learn to appreciate music and develop a life-long love of a wide range of music and musical styles.

- Develop their skills, knowledge and understanding, to enable them to be become confident performers, composers and listeners.

- Are introduced to a variety of genres of music from around the world and across generations, recognising the multicultural nature of our school and how we use music as a medium to explore and appreciate British and other cultures.

- Develop their musical skills through singing, playing tuned and un-tuned instruments, composing music and responding to music that they listen to. 

- Develop transferrable skills which are key in their development as learners and have a wider application in their lives both inside and outside of school e.g.: team-working, leadership, creative thinking, inferences and deduction, decision-making and performance skills.

Implementation 

Music is taught progressively through the school by specialist teachers. It begins in the Early Years, where the children’s musical awareness is developed to support their imagination and creativity. This early love of music is then developed throughout the school, whereupon, children are encouraged to perform, rehearse, sing and explore their own musicality.

Music lessons comprise of: performing, listening, composing, and the history of music as well as the interrelated dimensions of music. Individual strands of music are interwoven in lessons to create engaging, enriching learning that progresses through the years and throughout the key stages.

Pupils’ knowledge is built upon year-on-year, and they are taught how to sing fluently and expressively, play tuned and un-tuned instruments with accuracy and control. They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics and use these in their own composition and improvisations expressively.

The curriculum ensures that previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built upon. This allows pupil progress to be developed as they will be able to undertake more complex tasks, whilst tackling simple tasks with greater ease and accuracy. As pupils’ skills are developing, their understanding of the history of music, composition skills and interrelated dimensions of music are also being furthered.

So that the cross curricular value of music and the enjoyment that it can bring are used in other subjects to strengthen long term memory of key facts such as number bond songs/rhymes or historical facts.

Impact

The impact of the Music curriculum at Our Lady of Lourdes is evidenced in the following ways:

- Pupils are engaged and excited by our music curriculum. The skills that they are taught equip them with a range of skills to enable them to appreciate music throughout their lives.

- Pupils have become confident performers, composers and listeners, who are able to express themselves musically at school and beyond. 

- Pupils show an appreciation and respect for a range of music from a variety of genres across a variety of generations.

- Pupils demonstrate and express their enthusiasm for music.

- Pupils progress throughout the music curriculum which enables them to meet the expectations outlined at the end of each key stage for the National Curriculum