Intent
At Bathford Church School our vision of ‘Grow, Care, Serve, Share’ frames our Music curriculum.
Bathford Church School offers an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to learning music that inspires and excites our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes, meeting national Department for Education requirements as set out in the National Curriculum. All pupils will be expected to achieve their full potential by encouraging high expectations and excellent standards in their music learning.
We aim to ensure that all children grow:
- to feel willing and able to continue studying music beyond key stage 2
- to have solid foundations for future music learning through the development of the strands of musical learning and by developing the skills required for listening and appraising, musical activities and performing.
- to be able to deepen their understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music.
- to develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about music
- to work towards becoming lifelong music learners
Learning music supports children to care for others, offering them the opportunity to explore relationships between their musical ability and identity and to develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences.
Our curriculum helps children to make deep connections between their own learning, the school community and the world they live in. In doing so we support them in becoming active, collaborative and responsible citizens that will be better equipped to be of service to others and the wider world.
Throughout our lessons, children are given the opportunity to listen to and articulate their thinking with others, developing a shared connection to one another, their local context and the wider world. By promoting a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about different musical genres, the children will acquire the skills needed to succeed in the next stage of their life and beyond.
Implementation
All classes will have access to a very high-quality music curriculum using the GetSet4Music scheme of work and resources. This will progressively develop pupil skills in music through regularly taught and well-planned weekly lessons from Reception through to Year 6, which will be taught by class teachers.
Children will progressively acquire, apply and repeat a growing bank of vocabulary, performance and composition skills organised around age-appropriate topics and themes – building blocks of musical language into more complex, fluent and authentic performances.
All teachers will know where every child is at any point in their music journey.
The planning of different levels of challenge and which units to teach at each stage of the academic year will be addressed dynamically and will be reviewed in detail annually as units are updated and added to the scheme. Lessons offering appropriate levels of challenge and stretch will be taught at all times to ensure pupils learn effectively, continuously building their knowledge of and enthusiasm for music.
The GetSet4Music Scheme provides teachers with week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the school. It is ideal for specialist and non-specialist teachers and provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson. The Scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum.
The scheme meets all of the requirements of the statutory national curriculum for music.
GetSet4Music enables children to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills. The Music Overviews by Year Group guides you through each strand of musical learning from Reception to Upper Key Stage 2 in order for you, as a teacher, to plan for your teaching and to see the opportunity to embed a deeper learning, knowledge, understanding and skills.
Musical teaching and learning is not neat or linear. The strands of musical learning, presented within the lesson plans and the on-screen resources, are part of the learning spiral. Over time, children can both develop new musical skills and concepts, and re-visit established musical skills and concepts. Repeating a musical skill doesn’t necessarily mean their progress is slowing down or their development is moving backwards! It’s just shifting within the spiral. Mastery means both a deeper understanding of musical skills and concepts and learning something new.
How the Scheme is structured
Each Unit of Work comprises the strands of musical learning which correspond with the national curriculum for music:
Listening
Composing
Performing
Each unit of work is 6 weeks long, they first focus on listening to and appraising the music, then composing music and then the children have the opportunity to perform their compositions.
The Progression Map
The progression document brings all the possible musical learning outcomes together for the end of year and Key Stage, linking to the Progressive Teacher and Children’s Statements within the Assessment Framework. It highlights differentiated and deeper learning for each child, that constantly builds through each step/lesson, unit and year. Each unit and lesson will have clearly defined objectives and aims.
From Reception to Year 6, the learning consists of six half-termly Units of Work. The children are assessed after each of these Units of Work.
Pupil learning and progression will be assessed at regular intervals in line with school policy. Teachers will aim to assess each music skill (listening, composing, performing) throughout each unit to be able to provide reference points against which learning and progression in each skill can be demonstrated.
The Get Set 4 Music Assessment Framework uses I can statements to assess the children’s progress and is supported by planning and assessment documentation.
In addition to following the lessons provided in the GetSet4Music scheme of work and resources, teachers are encouraged to also do some of the following:
- Whole class instrument lessons.
- Including music and musical movement into daily classroom activities.
- Encourage children to sing in assembly or join the school choir.
- Encourage and support individual peripatetic music lessons.
- Encourage performances of instruments within class.
Impact
As well as each subsequent lesson within a unit being progressive, the organisation of GetSet4Music units also directs, drives and guarantees progressive learning and challenge. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills.
Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their music learning journey through the primary phase. Previous musical skills and language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate.
Teachers will have a clear overview of what they are working towards and if they are meeting these criteria. They will use the long-term planning documents provided in the form of Charanga unit planners to ensure the correct units are being taught to the correct classes at each stage of the scholastic year. Short-term planning is also provided in the form of unit overviews (covering the learning targets for each 6-week unit) and individual lesson plans laying out the learning aims and intentions of each individual lesson within a unit. These planning documents ensure that teachers know what to teach and how to teach it in each lesson, across whole units and across each scholastic term.
Pupils will be aware of their own learning goals and progression as each unit offers a pupil friendly overview so that all pupils can review their own learning at the start and at the end of each unit. They will know and will be able to articulate if they have or have not met their learning objectives and can keep their unit learning intention sheets, in the form of a ‘music passport’ and unit core vocabulary sheets as a record of what they have learnt from unit to unit and from year to year.
The opportunity to assess pupil learning and progression in the key music skills (listening, composing and performing) is provided at the end of each 6-week teaching unit. This information will be recorded and will be monitored by the Music Subject Leader who can use this data to ensure teaching is targeted and appropriate for each pupil, class and year group as well as to feedback on progress to SLT and stakeholders. Teachers will be able to record, analyse and access this data easily using the Tracking and Progression Tool that will monitor school, class and individual progress in music. Pupils will also be offered self-assessment passports to ensure they are also aware of their own progress which they can keep as a record of their progress.
Children are expected to make good or better than good progress in their music learning and their individual progress is tracked and reported to pupils and parents / carers in line with school recommendations.
If pupils are not progressing in line with expectations, this will be identified in the End of Unit Skills Assessments provided in the GetSet4Music Assessment report. This will enable teachers to put in place an early intervention programme to address any areas that require attention in any of the music learning skills.
We take every opportunity to bring real music to the children and regularly invite musicians to share their music for the whole school.
