Frenchwood C.P. School
Curriculum Policy for MUSIC
Aims and Objectives
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
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perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods,
genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and
musicians.
Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own
and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use
technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of
musical excellence.
Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated,
including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, tempo, timbre,
texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
Teaching and Learning strategies
At Frenchwood Primary School we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We
encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we
aim to build up the confidence of all children. Singing lies at the heart of good music
teaching. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune alone
and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and
organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music.
Children develop descriptive skills in music lessons when learning about how music can
represent feelings and emotions.
Curriculum Planning (includes N.C. programme of study, school themes & KLIPS)
Our school uses the national scheme of work for music as the basis for its curriculum
planning. Music is mainly taught through our theme lessons. If the class theme is a history
topic, the class will listen to, appraise and recreate music from that period. If the class
theme is a geography topic, the children will listen to, appraise and recreate music from
the place studied. Science topics are also visited in music lessons.
In order to teach the musical skills (pitch, duration, timbre and texture) we also use a
commercial scheme, Music Express. While there are opportunities for children of all
abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each teaching nit, the planned
progression built into the scheme means that children are increasingly challenged as they
move through the school.
We also subscribe to the Lancashire Music Service interactive resource, which offers units
of work across a wide range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions. Medium
term plans are provided and progression through lessons in ensured.
Early Years Foundation Stage
We teach music in Nursery and Reception as an integral part of the topic work covered
during the year. We relate the musical aspects of the children’s work to the objectives set
out in the Early Learning Goals which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged
three to five. Music contributes to a child’s personal and social development. Counting
songs foster a child’s mathematical ability and songs from different cultures increases a
child’s knowledge and understanding of the world.
Inclusion (SEN, EAL, G & T)
We teach music to all children, whatever their ability. Teachers provide learning
opportunities matched to the needs of children with learning difficulties, and our work in
music takes into account the targets set for individual children.
We recognise that there are children of widely different musical abilities in all classes, so
we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of
the task to the ability of the chid. We achieve this is a variety of ways by:
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setting common tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses
setting tasks of increasing difficulty
grouping children by ability in the room and setting different tasks to each ability
group
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Providing resources of different complexity depending on the ability of the child
Using classroom assistants to support the work of individuals or groups of children
Resources
There are sufficient resources for all music teaching units in the school. We keep resources
for music in a central store which is accessible for all staff within the school.
Assessment
Teachers assess children’s work in music by making informal judgements as they observe
them during lessons. At the end of the year the teacher makes a summary judgement
about the work of each pupil in relation to the National Curriculum level of attainment
and records these.
Monitoring and Review
The quality of music lessons is monitored by the music subject leader through lesson observations,
mentoring, coaching and team teaching.