Gerrans School

Music

Intent

First and foremost our intention is to help children to feel that they are musical and that they develop a life-long love of music. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that children need in order to become confident performers, composers and listeners. Our curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations, teaching them to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities.

By adopting the Kapow scheme of work for music, children will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Kapow’s scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets outlined in the national curriculum.

Alongside our curriculum provision, there are many opportunities for children to express their musicality. These include: instrument tuition, shows and performances, attendance at live music events and whole class instrumental lessons.

Implementation

Kapow Primary’s Music scheme takes a holistic approach to music, in which the individual strands below are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences:

Performing
Listening
Composing
The history of music
The inter-related dimensions of music

Each five-lesson unit combines these strands within a cross-curricular topic designed to capture pupils’ imagination and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically. Over the course of the scheme, children will be taught how to sing fluently and expressively, and play tuned and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated dimensions of music - pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics - and use these expressively in their own improvisations and compositions.

The instrumental scheme lessons complement the Kapow Primary scheme of work and allow lower key stage pupils to develop their expertise in using a tuned instrument for a minimum of one term as recommended in the model music curriculum.

Kapow Primary’s national curriculum mapping document shows which of our units cover each of the national curriculum attainment targets as well as each of these strands within it. This is also shown in the Gerrans curriculum document.

Kapow Primary’s progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop year on year to ensure attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

The Kapow Primary scheme follows the spiral curriculum model where previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built upon. Children progress in terms of tackling more complex tasks and doing more simple tasks better, as well as developing understanding and knowledge of the history of music, staff, and other musical notations, as well as the interrelated dimensions of music and more.

In each lesson, pupils will actively participate in musical activities drawn from a range of styles and traditions, developing their musical skills and their understanding of how music works. 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 and dance elements, as well as making cross curricular links with other areas of learning.

Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.

Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust music curriculum. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD, aiding teachers in their own acquisition of musical skills and knowledge. Further CPD opportunities can also be found via webinars with our music subject specialists. Kapow has been created with the understanding that many teachers do not feel confident delivering the music curriculum and every effort has been made to ensure that they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.

At Gerran’s Primary School, music units are followed on a half-termly basis with approximately five or six lessons taught a term. Whole-class instrumental lessons are woven into the two-year rolling programme alongside the music units. Opportunities for children to develop their musicality are also sought beyond the curriculum, including whole-school singing, school shows, nativity performances and attendance at community events.

Impact
The impact of Kapow Primary’s scheme can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives and at the end of each unit there is often a performance element where teachers can make a summative assessment of pupils’ learning. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils by providing a highly visual record of the key learning from the unit, encouraging recall of practical skills, key knowledge and vocabulary.

After the implementation of Kapow Primary music, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and to be able to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives.

The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary music scheme of work is that children will:

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