Music

"Music education can help spark a child's imagination or ignite a lifetime of passion. When you provide a child with new worlds to explore and challenges to tackle, the possibilities are endless. Music education... should be a part of every child's world of possibility."

Hilary Clinton

What is the vision for Music in our school?

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity, and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

What does our Music curriculum offer to our pupils?

At St Werburgh’s and St Columba’s Primary School, music plays an important part in our school community. Music lessons are lead by highly skilled music specialist and follow a well sequenced online scheme. These lessons enable all our children to access a high quality music education. Our weekly lessons ensure all children access engaging and exciting resources in order to develop their musical knowledge, skills and understanding, building on previous learning resulting in them being able to:

• Perform, listen to, review & evaluate music
• Be taught to sing, improvise with & compose music 
• Understand & explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

It is hoped that through this they will develop a love for music, through an active involvement in performing, composing, listening and appraising across a wide range of historical periods, styles, traditions and musical genres embracing the cultural diversity of the world we live in.  We promote an understanding and the importance of all types of music, and respect the role music may play in any person’s life. The children learn to sing, and are given opportunities to perform to an audience. We encourage children to understand the value of music within the wider community, and enable them to be involved in musical experiences in a range of contexts. Staff and children recognise the important role that music plays in both children’s academic and social development. Our objective is to promote enjoyment, confidence and enthusiasm for music through practical activity, exploration and discussion.

As well as weekly music lessons in class, pupils also have additional opportunities to participate in music through weekly singing assemblies, lessons with peripatetic teachers and performances in and out of school with other schools.

What effect does our Music curriculum have on our children?

By the time they leave our school, they will have: learned to play a variety of instruments; developed their singing voices; listened to a broad range of music; and gained the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to succeed in their music education at secondary school and beyond. The children will also have developed a love of music, one that understands the importance of diversity in music. How it encompasses a wide range of aspects, going beyond representation and inclusion, by recognising and celebrating the unique perspectives and voices that contribute to the ever-evolving landscape of music.

Curriculum Unit Overviews

Below are a series of links to the units of work that the children will be exploring during each academic year. The document outlines the key objectives and vocabulary that the children will encounter during their learning.

Year 1

Unit 1 – How can we make friends when we sing together?

Unit 2 – How does music tell stories about the past?

Unit 3 – How does music make the world a better place?

Unit 4 – How does music help us to understand our neighbours?

Unit 5 – What songs can we sing to help us through the day? Having fun with improvisation.

Unit 6 – How does music teach us about looking after our planet?

 Year 2 

Unit 1 – How does music help us to make friends? Exploring simple patterns

Unit 2 – How does music teach us about the past? Focus on dynamics and tempo.

Unit 3 – How does music make the world a better place? Exploring feelings through music

Unit 4 – How does music teach us about our neighbourhood? Inventing a musical story

Unit 5 – How does music make us happy? Music that makes you dance.

Unit 6 – How does music teach us about looking after our planet? Exploring improvisation

 Year 3 and 4

Cycle A 

Cycle B

 Unit 1?– How does music bring us together?

Unit 2?– What stories does music tell us about the past?

Unit 3?– How does music make the world a better place?

Unit 4?– How does music help us get to know our community?

Unit 5?– How does music make a difference to us every day?

Unit 6?– How does music connect us with our planet?     

Year 5 and 6 

Cycle A

Unit 1?– How does music bring us together?

Unit 2?– How does music connect us with our past?

Unit 3?– How does music improve our world?

Unit 4?– How does music teach us about our community?

Unit 5?– How does music shape our way of life?

Unit 6?– How does music connect us with the environment?

Cycle B

Unit 1?– How does music bring us together?

Unit 2?– How does music connect us with our past?

Unit 3?– How does music improve our world?

Unit 4?– How does music teach us about our community?

Unit 5?– How does music shape our way of life? 

Unit 6?– How does music connect us with the environment?

Music Curriculum Intent