Intent

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

(The National Curriculum 2014)

At Radcliffe on Trent Infant and Nursery school, our music curriculum intends to inspire creativity and self expression and encourages our children on their musical journey as well as giving them opportunities to connect with others. We aim to follow the requirements of the National Curriculum; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum and ensuring the progressive development of musical concepts, knowledge and skills. By listening and responding to different musical styles, finding their voices as singers and performers and as composers, they will be empowered to become confident, reflective musicians.

At Radcliffe on Trent Infant and Nursery school, we recognise that music plays an important part in helping children feel part of a community, and so we provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music both in class and to an audience.

The aims of our music curriculum are to develop pupils who:

• Enjoy and have an appreciation for music
• Listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions.
• Listen to and evaluate the work of great composers.
• Sing and use their voice to create different effects.
• Create and compose music, both on their own and with others.
• Use a range of musical language
• Make judgements and express personal preferences about the quality and style of music.
• Have opportunities to play a variety of instruments, both tuned and untuned.
• Take part in performances with an awareness of audience.

Implementation

Children at Radcliffe-on-Trent infant and Nursery participate in a weekly music lesson. We follow The Sparkyard music curriculum. Each lesson builds upon the learning from the previous lesson therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills. Music lessons ensure children listen, appraise, sing, play, compose and perform. The interrelated dimensions of music are taught with lessons to ensure that children are able to use some of the language of music, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. Differentiation is built into our music teaching. This is done through targeted questioning, appropriate TA support and ensuring everyone is appropriately challenged and supported.

We promote the enjoyment of music through regular singing practise, musical workshops and the opportunity to be part of our school choir. There are regular opportunities to perform with our school choir at various events throughout the year.

We have a range of music equipment and resources that can easily be moved around school. There are drums, tambourines, maracas, bells, chime bars, hand bells, wood blocks as well as a full class set of glockenspiels. Children have opportunity to use these instruments each week. The school class sets of I pads have purple mash installed for children to access the musical activities. We subscribe to Sparkyard which is a fantastic resource for all of our songs which can easily be played on our IWB with lyrics. 

Children in EYFS are taught to sing songs, make music and dance. An important part of music making is in our continuous provision indoor and outdoors. Children have opportunities to experiment with sounds using objects made from different materials such as wood, metal and plastic.

We give opportunities for our children to be engaged in music and be creative from an early age as through this regular experience they will develop their knowledge and skills. Musical skills and skills progression are monitored, as is the delivery of music.

Impact

Our music curriculum aims to foster a love and increasing enthusiasm for the subject amongst our children, and a potential for life long musical study.

Our music curriculum is planned to demonstrate progression and build on and embed current skills. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills in the different musical components and teaching of vocabulary is integral within the units of work. If children are achieving the knowledge and skills in lessons, then they are deemed to be making good or better progress.

The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a child may access fundamental abilities such as: self confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self reflection. Our music teaching will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to pupils individually, as well as ethnicities from around the world. Children have opportunities to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose, either as a listener, creator or performer. They will be able to discuss music and comprehend its parts. They will sing, feel a pulse, create rhythms and melodies in a group and then be able to further develop these skills in the future as they continue to enjoy and embrace music in their lives.