Subject Aim / Intent:

Here you will find our music development plan.

Intent

Our music curriculum aims to support children to understand and love music in their own personal way. They have the chance to express themselves using their voices to create and compose music, with lots of opportunities to sing within different genres. All children will learn to play a musical instrument, and have access to technology to explore music digitally.

We aim to develop our children’s understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music, (also known as the elements of music): pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations are taught, providing a broad and balanced curriculum.

Through the music curriculum,  we intend to raise confidence, independence and critical thinking, and offer children the opportunity to speak about music, how it is created, produced and communicated. When teaching music, we make relevant links between subjects, the wider community and the school’s context where possible. Our whole-school curriculum drivers that we promote across all subjects are: ready, relevant, progressive, ambitious, independent, inclusive and resilient.

So…how does this look in music?

Ambitious	Through exposure to the music curriculum, we encourage children to become aware of how important music is in the real world. Children aspire to develop and gain new skills in music to support them in possible future careers. Through opportunities across school, children have an ambition to learn a musical instrument, providing them with a lifelong skill.
Progressive	Music skills are built on year-upon-year. Children make progress in music from their starting point and can clearly see their own progression in their learning. Children are taught skills which support them across all units and ensure they are secondary-ready by Y6.
Independent	Children are supported to develop their own independence and musical personality. All children feel comfortable within music to make mistakes and explore how best to fix them. They will work in a range of musical genres throughout the units and have the independence to complete the tasks they are set. Children can and will work with others, but do not become reliant upon them.
Inclusive	We have high aspirations for all: children BELIEVE, ACHIEVE and SUCCEED in music. Everyone CAN play, enjoy, appreciate and appraise music – and it is not preserved for a minority. Our music curriculum promotes inclusivity for all children to both support and deepen knowledge and understanding. Having a safe, inclusive and fun musical environment promotes sharing and celebrating our own and other’s work.
Relevant	Music at Front Street embraces the multi-cultural world we live in. Children have the opportunity to explore and celebrate music from different cultures and religions, in a meaningful and purposeful way, this includes traditional and modern-day music. Children also have the opportunity to celebrate local musicians, listening to their music and finding out about their background.
Resilience	All of our children have a growth mindset in music and believe in their abilities. Children can and will achieve and succeed in music, through encouragement to problem solve, through composing within the different dimensions of music. Children understand learning new musical skills can sometimes seem testing, however our children are always willing to have a go.
Ready	All children are taught age-related content. Throughout the curriculum, the music skills are coherent and progressive. Children master their own year-group content and are ready to build upon their knowledge, understanding and skill set the following year.

Implementation

At Front Street Primary School, we follow the Kapow Condensed Music Curriculum (under pinned by the National Curriculum) from EYFS up to Y6. The curriculum is divided into four units per year group, and follows five strands which run throughout the scheme of work:

• Performing
• Listening
• Composing
• The History of Music
• Inter-related Dimensions of Music

The Kapow Music Curriculum is a spiral curriculum with the following key principles in mind:

• Cyclical: Pupils return to the same skills and knowledge again and again during their time in primary school, ensuring children’s previous learning, prior knowledge and skill set is secure.
• Increasing depth: Each time a skill or area of knowledge is revisited it is covered with greater depth, making sure content is progressive.
• Prior knowledge: Upon returning to a skill, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build upon previous foundations, rather than starting again.

Lessons, alongside additional opportunities in music, teach the key elements of music (inter-related dimensions) in order to develop our children’s ability to 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, as well as modern day musicians and local musical heroes.

Music at Front Street, within the Early Years Foundation Stage, supports children’s development of the Early Learning Outcomes and fosters the children’s love for music. As well as music lessons, music is at the heart of the foundation stage and is embedded within the daily routine, behaviour management, adult led teaching and continuous environment. Children learn through experiences that introduce the concept of music and movement, and are given the opportunity to use music to express themselves. Children quickly gain their own personal understanding of music.

Within Key stage 1, pupils will be taught to;

• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. (performing)

• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically. (performing)
• Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music. (Listening)
• Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music. (Composing)

Within Key stage 2 pupils will be taught to;

• Sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. (performing)
• Develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. (listening)
• Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. (performing)
• Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music. (composing)
• Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory. (listening)
• Use and understand staff and other musical notations. (performing/composing)
• Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians. (listening/the history of music)
• Develop an understanding of the history of music. (the history of music)

Children in Year 1, 2 and 3 cover the music skills and knowledge for their year group, through learning to play an instrument.

• Year 1: Ocarina
• Year 2: Recorder
• Year 3: Ukulele

Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

At Front Street our curriculum is fully inclusive and supports ranging needs and cultural diversity, making learning relevant and vibrant, therefore all children can and will succeed within music. Based upon individual needs, class teachers make appropriate adaptations to the delivery of lessons and/or resources to enable the success of all learners. The Kapow Music curriculum is inclusive and we have high aspirations for all, including children with SEND.  ALL pupils, from Nursery to Y6, will be supported to access age-appropriate content within the music curriculum – this could be through support in lessons, the use of resources and clear step by step modelling. Children with EHCPs and learning plans are supported in lessons to suit their personal needs, and barriers are anticipated and considered beforehand, so planning and teaching can be adapted sufficiently . The aim in music is to scaffold ALL pupils (including those identified with SEND) towards independence, not dependence. We work in compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 to ensure our curriculum is accessible for pupils with SEND.

At Front Street, children with communication and interaction needs benefit from the spiral curriculum and their learning is supported through the revisiting of knowledge and skills. They become equipped with a bank of suitable vocabulary and are able to understand the expectations of each unit. Children are also given time to work independently and with their peers, to support positive working relationships. A safe and respectful space is established within music lessons to support all children, including those with SEMH and sensory needs, in order for them to feel comfortable in the working environment. Music lessons are kept calm and children understand when it is appropriate to play and not play their instruments, to ensure noise overload is not a barrier to learning. A positive workspace is fostered, where children can feel confident and comfortable to learn alongside their peers. As the music curriculum at Front Street has a focus of know more and remember more, children with cognition and learning needs do not feel overloaded by their learning. Children are given time to process information, and acquire a growth mindset when exploring music, without the pressure of making permanent mistakes.

Cultural Capital Experiences

Throughout their time at Front Street Primary, children are given lots of opportunity to enhance cultural capital. All children are given the opportunity to take part in music workshops at numerous occasions throughout the academic year, exposing them to a live band, a range of different instruments and musical themes. Certain year groups take part in choirs, with extra opportunities to perform outside of school, and year groups from KS1 and KS2 take part in events at The Sage Gateshead such as Mini Sing, Big Sing and Spring Sing. We also have a range of music tuition groups at Front Street, where children can enhance and foster their love of playing an instrument further than classroom level.

If you have any further questions related to music, here at Front Street, please contact the school office who will be happy to help.

Music Links:

Music Documents	Download
Music National Curriculum	Download
Kapow Scheme Music Curriculum Overview	Download
Music CURRICULUM MAP	Download
School_music_development_plan_2024 Completed	Download

Music Policy

Awards and Quality Marks:

We currently hold the Music Mark Award.

We hold a Sing Up Silver Award

We are regular supporters of Sign2Sing

We are part of the music hub within our Local Authority.