Intent

At Merrylands Primary School and Nursery, we believe that music inspires and allows children to communicate their emotions and feelings in a unique and personal way. We believe that it plays an important part in a child’s personal development, and helps children to feel that they are part of a community. Music is important in many different cultures, and is connected with many key events in children’s own lives. The teaching and learning of music, and key moments in musical history, will help children to better understand the society they live in today.

The National Curriculum states that:

'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.' National Curriculum (2014)

Within Merrylands Primary School, all children will be given the opportunity to create, play, listen to and enjoy music. They will be enabled to develop the skills to evaluate and appreciate all musical genres and begin to develop their own musical preferences.

Implementation

Music is taught throughout each key stage, following the Early Years Framework and the National Curriculum programme of study.  To ensure high standards of musical learning in EYFS, children are taught Music through cross-curricular opportunities and through the ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ area of learning. Throughout the rest of primary school, Music is taught in half-termly blocks with a total of 3 blocks being taught across the year.

At Merrylands Primary School, we follow the Charanga Scheme of Work. The programme uses a spiral-based curriculum which builds on, and revisits specific skills each year.  It also focusses on different genres of music as well as individual artists and composers. A wide range of instrument resources are in use, and children also have the opportunity for private instrumental lessons throughout the year.

Key vocabulary is taught systematically, in order to give children the tools needed to discuss their learning. Playing and performance skills are taught through a range of instruments, including recorders, glockenspiels and untuned percussion. Children are taught how to recognise notes on instruments, and are provided with opportunities to compose and perform their own work. Musical appreciation focusses on developing an understanding of a range of musical genres, from different times and places, and instils a sense of enjoyment in this subject area.

Children are given opportunities during their time at Merrylands to partake in performances for a live audience, including EYFS Christmas performances and Young Voices. Children who take part in private musical tuition also prepare a performance for both their peers and adults, to promote confidence in their abilities.

 Impact

The Music curriculum enables children to enjoy music in different forms. They have the opportunity to be a listener, composer and a performer. They learn how to evaluate and understand different parts of music, and relate it to their own preferences, opinions and experiences. They work together and independently to sing, feel a pulse or beat, and collectively perform music.

Children’s learning and attainment is evaluated during each lesson and end of unit assessments are recorded using the Merrylands assessment grid.  This information is used to inform future planning.  The subject is monitored regularly to measure the impact of the Music curriculum content, design and delivery, and the outcomes of this monitoring are used to drive forward next steps within the subject.