Intent
The intention of the music curriculum at Asquith Primary is to help children to feel that they are musical and to develop a life-long love of music. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding what children need in order to become confident performers, composers and listeners. Our 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.
Children will develop the musical skills of singing and playing, improvising and composing, and listening and responding to music. Through music, they will develop transferable skills such as team-working, leadership, creative thinking, problem-solving, presentation and performance skills
Implementation
Asquith Primary School's music scheme takes a holistic approach to the subject, in which the strands of performing, listening, composing, history of music and the elements of music are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences.
Over the course of the scheme, children will be taught how to sing fluently and expressively, play tuned (recorder, ukelele, keyboard, trumpet and trombone) and untuned (djembe and cajon) instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated elements of music - pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics - and use these in their own improvisations and compositions.
The school provision (Years 1 - 6) benefits from the direction of a specialist music provider, SoundAdvice. Lessons are supported by the class teacher. In Nursery and Reception, class teachers teach the music curriculum using the SingUp scheme. SoundAdvice also provide staff training in order to support confident teaching of the school scheme. Children progress in terms of tackling more complex tasks and doing more simple tasks better.
The classroom lessons are supplemented by a range of extra-curricular experiences including choirs, bands and the opportunity to learn to play a range of instruments. There are also opportunites for children to experience music performed by visiting artistes and to perform themselves in a range of external venues and with other musicians.
Impact
The expected impact of following the music curriculum at Asquith is that children will:
Regular checks take place as to how the Music curriculum is impacting on the children's progress using a range of methods e.g. in-lesson assessment, pupil discussions using the floorbooks developed over the year, concerts and presentations of work.