INTENT

At Everton Primary School, we believe Music is an essential part of our curriculum; we believe that to be a musician, children need a strong foundation of the understanding of singing, listening to music and appreciating it and controlling pulse and rhythm. Our intent is for our teachers to deliver the National Curriculum, promoting enthusiasm and curiosity so children develop the confidence in performing. Through performance-based learning the children will become accomplished in using both independence and teamwork. We strive to give our children the opportunity to learn and develop their music skills by using instruments and their voices along with developing their musical vocabulary progressively. Our intention is to foster an enthusiasm for music and resilience to overcome any barriers they may meet. Over their time at Everton, we intend to give children the chance to showcase their work and to be proud of it. We intend to give children the opportunity to learn about famous musicians of the past and present and give our children the opportunity to ask questions, developing their curiosity. At Everton Primary School, our aim is to deliver a curriculum which gives children the confidence to understand the importance of equity and diversity in our world and to know that some of the famous music we hear represents a strong sense of this. We want our children to know music reflects and shapes our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

IMPLEMENTATION

As we have 4 mixed classes at Everton, our Music Curriculum has been designed on a 2-year rolling programme. This is to ensure all National Curriculum is taught to all our pupils before they leave our school.

Music is an essential part of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as it is entwined into everyday learning. The Music aspects of the children’s learning link to the objectives set out in the EYFS Development Matters Statements and the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). Music is important in the Early Years Foundation Stage as it helps children's development in several areas. Singing songs and rhymes together is a great way to develop their communication and language skills in a fun and engaging way, promoting enthusiasm and curiosity.

In Key Stage 1, our pupils will confidently use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. We will teach our children to confidently play tuned and untuned musical instruments. Within music lessons, our children will be taught to respectfully listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music. Throughout Key Stage 1, we will encourage our children to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

Throughout Key Stage 2, children will be taught how to develop their musical skills and will learn how to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They will develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structuring and reproducing sounds. Pupils will be taught to improvise and compose music for a range of purposes. Throughout the curriculum, children will listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing memory. Children will be taught to use and understand staff and other musical notations. Children will understand how to appreciate and kindly critique a wide-range of high-quality live and recorded music from a range of traditions, composers and musicians and respect how these people have impacted our lives. Learning the history of music will also play a key part of our music curriculum.

The way in which we implement our curriculum:

• The standards for Music have been mapped out on our progression document, ensuring children year on year develop their knowledge and skills of music.
• Music is not taught every week of each term; instead, it has been blocked into half-terms, terms where a particular key unit is taught (see progression maps and long term plans).
• Teachers use standards and break these down into smaller learning objectives; these are mapped out on Medium Term Plans, which develops sequential and cumulative learning and progression.
• In a music lesson, there will be: 1. Revisit and review, 2. Vocabulary development, 3. Teacher input (modelling), 4. Learning task and 5. Assessment of learning and review of the lesson.
• Within our lessons, a key component is to review previous learning, allowing children to understand their learning journey and giving them the confidence to be able to articulate their understanding and link learning together. Learning is reviewed in a range of ways: quizzes, games and mini assessments. Teachers also review through morning starter activities. This keeps learning refreshed and supports their long-term retention.
• Vocabulary is an integral part of our Music curriculum; we believe it is crucial we give our children the language to talk like musicians, developing ambition to one day become a musician. All children are given vocabulary mats at the beginning of each new unit; this vocabulary is then driven throughout the unit, ensuring children have a clear understanding of it and are equipped to use it.
• When a Music unit is studied, throughout all classrooms, a learning journey is developed within books, displaying a build up of knowledge and skills and allowing the children a key point of reference to review their learning.
• Throughout units, children are taught lessons in a progressive way, where they build up skills and knowledge, which leads to a final piece.
• Music is celebrated within classrooms, by performing for an audience, whether this be in school or in the local church or village hall.
• Teachers assess each lesson’s Learning Objectives and will indicate if learning has required support or has been carried out with independence. Along with teachers assessing learning, children are also required to show independence by assessing their own learning.

IMPACT

The amazing Musicians of Everton Primary School will (by the end of Year 6):

• Know how to confidently sing and perform songs with control of breathing, posture and sound projection.
• Know how to sing songs tunefully and in parts.
• Know how to sing with expression, in a round, through teamwork, identifying melodic phrases and how they fit together.
•  Know how to perform confidently at Everton Primary School, in music assemblies, class assemblies, small groups and with independence.
• Know how to listen to longer pieces of music and identify features, critiquing them kindly and with respect.
• Know how to identify different metres of different songs through recognising the pattern of strong and weak beats.
• Know how to subdivide the pulse while keeping to a steady beat.
• Know the names of a range of musical instruments and the family they belong to.

• Believe they are musicians and have the ‘I can’ attitude and show resilience when completing a piece of work.

Our Progression Document, Long Term and Medium Term plans display the learning for each point throughout our Art Curriculum.