“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” Albert Einstein

Music Curriculum

Intent:
Music is a unique and expressive way of communicating that can inspire and motivate us all. It is a means of personal expression and can play an important role in personal development in children. Through music, we can express, represent, and communicate our ideas and perceptions.

At Courtwood Primary School, our vision in music is for our children to become confident and skilled musicians who develop a love of music, increasing their creativity and sense of achievement.

To achieve this, we deliver a broad and balanced music curriculum, with regular opportunities for children to sing, play tuned and untuned instruments, compose, improvise and perform. Children also review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.

At Courtwood, we aim to engage all children in singing. From the beginning to the end of our learner’s journey, we sing collectively in Key Stage singing assemblies and singing individually as a soloist is encouraged and occurs regularly as confidence is built upon. Additionally, our children have many opportunities to perform externally: singing locally at residential homes and on the stage at our local and prestigious Fairfield Halls, in a massed choir of over 600 junior children.

When our children reach the end of their Courtwood musical journey, we encourage them to move on to their next stage of education with a love of music that they will want to continue to enjoy, develop and nurture. We want all our children to see themselves as musicians or music-makers with developed life skills such as collaborative working, respecting and acknowledging the achievements of others, and persevering to achieve their goals.

Implementation:
Our curriculum offers full and balanced coverage of the KS1 and KS2 music national curriculum (with elements of the Model Music Curriculum), including EYFS Development Matters and the Early Learning Goals. The overarching strand of Music Elements (or the Inter-related Dimensions of Music) runs throughout the four strands of our curriculum which includes: Performing; Listening; Composing and The History of Music. Music vocabulary is developed throughout.

Our sequenced music curriculum follows the spiral curriculum model, giving time in lessons for pupils to retrieve skills, knowledge and techniques from previous music lessons. These are consistently built into their learning and there are also opportunities for pupils to make learning links to self-experiences – we all learn, constantly!

*Cyclical: pupils return to the same skills and knowledge again and again during their time at Courtwood.
*Increasing depth: each time a skill or area of knowledge is revisited, it is covered with greater depth.
*Prior knowledge: upon returning to a skill, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build upon previous foundations, rather than starting again.

Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work as well as improvisation and teacher-led performances. Lessons are ‘hands-on’ and incorporate movement elements and cross curricular links with other areas of learning, where appropriate.

Impact:
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

– Reflecting on standards achieved against the planned outcomes.
– Opportunities to listen to and appraise music from a range of genres from history to gain both inspiration and analytical skills.
– Varied opportunities to perform, giving children greater confidence to express themselves: our Junior Choir perform at local residential homes and The Fairfield Halls.
– Ensemble work through weekly singing assemblies and work in class.
– Pupil discussions about their learning.
– Built in end of term quizzes.
– Continuous assessment through compositions, improvisations, and performances.
– Pupils working in mixed ability groups to develop leadership, responsibility, and confidence.

Courtwood children will:

– Be confident performers, composers and listeners, able to express themselves musically.
– Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world and understand how music can be influenced by the wider cultural, social, and historical contexts in which it is developed.
– Understand the ways in which music can be scribed to support performing and composing activities.
– Demonstrate and articulate an enthusiasm for music and be able to identify own personal musical preferences.
– Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the national curriculum for Music (or beyond!)

It’s quite simple: Music is Magic at Courtwood!

“Music can change the world.” Ludwig van Beethoven

Music Tuition

Courtwood Primary School is able to offer instrumental tuition in the following instruments:

Violin
Cello
Flute
Clarinet
Piano
Guitar

Our Musical Journey

EYFS and KS1:
EYFS and KS1: using voices expressively when singing, whilst creating actions to the lyrics.

Reception:
To play instruments with increasing control, developing small motor skills.
To play in time with each other.

Year 1:
To select and create short sequences of sound with voices or instruments to represent a given idea or character. To use voice and body percussion to make music.

Year 2:
To know some tuned instruments have a higher pitch than others. To choose appropriate musical elements for a piece of composed music.

KS2:
Year 3:
To compose a piece of music in a given style, with voices and instruments; combining melodies and rhythms to compose multi-layers.

To understand that a tala is a set rhythm that is repeated over and over, usually on the drums called table.

To play and perform in ensemble contexts, using voices with increasing accuracy, fluency, control, and expression (Croydon Schools Music Association Junior Festival Choir, The Fairfield Halls)

Performing a solo and taking a leadership role within a performance (Year 6 pupil, CSMA, Fairfield Halls)

Year 4
To develop Ukelele technique.

Year 5
To play untuned instruments with increasing control and musicality, following instruction and independently.

To combine rhythmic patterns (ostinato) into a multi-layered composition using all musical elements to add musical interest.

Year 6
To work as a group to perform a piece of music, adjusting elements of music, as required, keeping in time and communicating well.

To constructively critique own and others’ work, using musical vocabulary.