Music at Whitwell Primary School

The children in each year group take part in a range of practical activities which give them a valuable musical experience. As the children progress through school the children’s understanding and enjoyment of music is developed.

Through musical activities the children have the opportunity to play and perform on their own and in groups using their voices and a range of tuned and untuned instruments. The children participate in listening, performing, appraising and composition activities, covering the areas laid down in the National Curriculum. They learn to appreciate and understand a wide range of music from different eras and cultures.

We have a school choir that takes part each year in the ’Young Voices’ concerts, has performed in district competitions, and liaises with community groups to sing in the local area.

Music

The Intent, Implementation and Impact of our Curriculum

At Whitwell Primary School we aim to make music an enjoyable learning experience for all our children and for them to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding of the importance of music in a person’s life whatever age.

Intent

At Whitwell Primary School we work hard to ensure that all our children are provided with a quality music education. We have a progression document for music, which maps out the skills taught across all year groups from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year Six.

The staff at Whitwell ensure that they teach music lessons where children can explore and develop their musical skills and talents through a range of learning experiences covering different cultures, genres and periods in history.

We believe that the children should be provided with a wide range of opportunities to share, perform and celebrate their musical interests and talents with others within school, the local community and further afield.

Implementation

The staff at Whitwell understand which skills to teach during each music lesson and theme, and therefore build on children’s prior knowledge, skills and understanding.

Due to the school having some classes with mixed year groups, music units are taught on a two year rolling programme. This ensures progression between year groups and guarantees all themes are covered.

The staff are supported in their planning and teaching of music through the use of the ‘Charanga’ scheme. This scheme is used to inspire and engage the children. The scheme includes an extensive range of musical skills, styles and cultures which appeal to our children’s interests and broaden their experiences.

Cross curricular links to other subjects across the curriculum are made in order to enhance and give further meaning to the children’s overall learning.

Our music lessons enable children to sing and enjoy music together, in the classroom, the school hall or outside in our school grounds. Opportunities are taken to perform in class, whole school assemblies and also to parents and carers.

At Whitwell there are a range of annual performances such as the Foundation Stage and Key Stage One nativities, and the Key Stage Two play. All the children take part in local celebrations at Harvest, Christmas and Easter at our two village churches. As a school, we also take our Key Stage Two choir each year to the ‘Young Voices’ concert where they sing with up to five thousand other children.

Impact

The children at Whitwell are able to talk about what they have learnt, and how their current learning links to previous learning.

The children develop their music skills and build on their subject knowledge over time as they progress through school from the Foundation Stage to Year Six.

The children enjoy their music lessons and they can talk about particular themes and activities they have enjoyed.

They can discuss which music they have listened to, use different instruments to respond to music, sing in a variety of musical styles, and improvise their own music.

Over their time at Whitwell the children will have performed to a range of audiences and are able to talk about what they have enjoyed and learnt about by joining with musical activities in a range of local and regional events.