Our curriculum is ambitious, diverse and research driven
INTENT
At Hunsbury Park Primary School, we strive for music lessons to be fun and inspiring, engaging the children with songs, lyrics and movement. We want the children to be able to reflect and express a developing appreciation of a diverse range of music genres throughout their time at our school. All children are actively encouraged and given the opportunity to learn to play an instrument through NMPAT music specialists and within music curriculum lessons. Therefore, they learn to play standard classroom instruments as well as have the opportunity to participate in individual instrumental lessons with the visiting NMPAT specialist staff.
Music is planned in-line with the statements laid out in the National Curriculum. Music is planned using the scheme Charanga from EYFS up to Year 6. Charanga is suitable for our children because it provides many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places, exposing them to a wider musical knowledge. These are explored through active listening, questioning, performing and composing activities, which enable the children to understand the context and genre of music.
Through our ambitious music lessons, children are actively involved in a wide range of musical opportunities. They learn to: develop their singing voices; use body percussion and whole-body actions; learn to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and others’ music; and compose their own musical compositions through written and practical forms. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform.
IMPLEMENTATION
The Charanga scheme provides full coverage for experienced and inexperienced teachers of music to fully implement the National Curriculum objectives. The scheme uses repetition and retrieval throughout topics and year groups to ensure an in depth understanding of musical concepts is achieved. Links to music are made across the curriculum, as well as through performances, assemblies and external music tuition.
Charanga inspires and engages pupils by offering a diverse range of genres of music to study throughout their primary education. The children develop their understanding, make musical judgements, apply their new learning, develop their aural memory, express themselves physically, emotionally and through discussion and create their own musical ideas. The chance to explore a variety of music and express their opinions to others for debate is one of the many ways that Charanga keeps children engaged.
The wide range of core resources have been developed specifically to motivate and capture each individual’s personal interest. Charanga offers the children time to practice music skills through games, partner work and whole class choral recall before encouraging them to use these skills in musical composition. It also encourages a love of music, lyric writing, musical composition and musicians as well as a chance to explore a range of musical instruments.
NMPAT are employed by the school to deliver whole-class tuition of instruments – Year 3 and 4 learn Samba and Year 5 and 6 explore African Drumming. Hunsbury Park believes that by giving all children the chance to explore a range of instruments we can ensure their cultural capital is raised as well as encourage children to learn about the music of other cultures. We hope that it will open up more opportunities for the children of Hunsbury Park and encourage a higher level of musicianship. Phase 1 receive enhanced enrichment music through a further external music teacher in order to support their early music learning by building up those key skills of rhythm and pulse, aiding their music progression.
IMPACT
By the time children leave Hunsbury Park Primary School they are able to critically evaluate a range of music genres and styles, express themselves through a range of musical instruments, compose and confidently perform their own pieces of music and evaluate the work of their peers.
There are many children at Hunsbury Park who participate in the school choir or have private tuition. This is due to a love of learning being fostered from Early Years through to Year 6. They are regularly exposed to a variety of areas of music, which reinforce the learning completed in school, as well as offers them the chance to create their own music. As the years progress, we should see more children signing up for musical tuition, the school choir and lunchtime music clubs because they have been exposed to music and wish to develop these skills further. The children will be able to access these aspects of music by progressing their skills in lessons throughout their primary years.
Private tuition allows the children to see their progression through certification as they reach new milestones. By joining the school choir, they will know they are progressing as the choir leader will be able to record their performances to watch at a later date, showing the children how far they have come since joining. Pupil voice questionnaires have shown that the children enjoy their music curriculum and would love the opportunity for more instrument tuition options, which shows a real joy for the subject.
Assessment
Charanga ensures a progression of skills over time. Children are able to continually assess how well they are progressing, as they are always being taught the key elements of music in a spiral curriculum. Each lesson revisits and builds on the previous to allow children to progress their skills logically – helping them to learn and remember more. They are also given opportunities to compose their own music and share this with the class, which therefore supports them in identifying the skills learnt and progression of these. Staff record the children’s initial performance at the beginning of each unit and then compare this to the end of unit performance recording. This allows staff to better assess children’s individual learning needs to adapt lessons accordingly as well as assess their progress from start to finish
SEND AND DISADVANTAGED PUPILS
Our ambition is for all pupils to access the full music curriculum. These pupils will be supported to provide them with full accessibility to the music lessons. This can be through personalised adaptations or 1:1 support where necessary.
How Does Music Promote British Values?
In our music lessons at Hunsbury Park Primary School, children are taught about the need to establish clear rules when listening, performing and composing. These rules include working together as a team, taking turns with the instruments, listening when someone is playing and deciding on whose ideas are going to be used in a composition.
Children are encouraged to make their own choices regarding the music they like to listen to or perform and are respected for their individual preferences. We also encourage our children to offer opinions that critique as well as praise the music genres being taught through Charanga, as discussion and tolerance of others is a key part of their development.
Children are encouraged to appreciate the fact that music from all cultures and traditions around the world develops and contributes positively to British music. Children are taught songs that reflect a range of genres throughout British music history as well as being given the opportunity to share songs from their own cultures throughout the year. They are encouraged to make comparisons between historical landmarks, such as adaptations in black civil rights in Phase 1 and empowering female musicians in Phase 3.