Music   

“Music is all around us. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. In our schools, music can bring communities together through the shared endeavour of whole-school singing, ensemble playing, experimenting with the creative process and, through the love of listening to friends and fellow pupils, performing.

The sheer joy of music making can feed the soul of a school community, enriching each student while strengthening the shared bonds of support and trust which make a great school.”

- New Model Music Curriculum 2021 -

Intent

At The Highway, we believe that it is essential that all children are accepting of and develop an appreciation of the validity and importance of all types of music. Through listening to and appraising music from a diverse cultural and historical repertoire, children become able to understand the importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge and experiences to involve themselves in music in a variety of different contexts. Through appraisal and appreciation, children are able to develop their oracy skills as they articulate how particular pieces of music make them feel or remind them of. 

Implementation

While music can be used across the wider curriculum as a helpful tool to aid learning generally, it is critical that Music is recognised in its own right and taught accordingly. At The Highway, class teachers deliver music to their own class, using the fully interactive and varied scheme, Music Express, which meets the National Curriculum and the Expressive Arts and Design strand of the Early Years expectations. Children are given the opportunity to participate in making music with their voices and a variety of instruments. They have plenty of opportunities to learn about and explore rhythm, beat, dynamics, timbre, pitch and tempo and to become curious about music.

Music Express is carefully structured to provide inclusive steps of progression for each child’s musicianship and follows 4 core concepts:

Listen - to listen carefully and critically to a wide range of musical content. 
Perform - to perform vocally and instrumentally in solo and ensemble contexts. 
Appreciate - to be given opportunities to appreciate music from a wide variety of cultures.
Compose - to compose music grounded in an understanding of what they have listened to and learned. 

As well as our music lessons in class, we strive to ensure that children are exposed to and enjoy music in the wider school community. We have weekly singing assemblies, where we have the opportunity to use our voices as a whole school, as well as year group/Key stage concerts and performances at different times during the year. This allows us to explore the “Perform” aspect on a larger scale. We encourage a love of singing and run a choir for Year 2-Y6 children as an extracurricular activity and offer a ukulele club to all Year 4 children.

Impact

At The Highway, we will see musicians and singers who:

• talk enthusiastically about their music lessons and show curiosity and interest in the areas they have explored. 
• are able to explain specific musical vocabulary appropriate to their age. 
• will be able to talk confidently about music and musicians spanning a variety of cultures and eras.
• will be happy to engage in a range of different activities, showing self-motivation and will be able to share and reflect on their learning. 
• will show an understanding of how to handle and use a range of instruments. 
• have confidence and are inspired to further their knowledge and musical journey. 
• will happily showcase their learning through performance and extracurricular activities.

This will be evident through pupil voice, evidence of knowledge and skills and the monitoring of the ambition behind the curriculum.

Curriculum Statement for the Teaching and Learning of Music 2020/2021

Rocksteady Music School Information