At St Thomas’ we believe that music plays a key part in our daily lives and is a language that can be understood and appreciated by everyone worldwide.  We encourage our pupils to grow as talented musicians and instil a love of music.  Through solo and group ensemble music making, we aim to strengthen the creative skills of pupils as well as improve self-confidence, self-esteem and concentration.   We believe that music also supports well-being and develops confidence through performing.   

Intention

We aim to give pupils the confidence to listen to, appreciate, understand and talk about music.  We also want our pupils to enjoy their music making and to learn a set of skills to help provide enjoyment throughout their lives.  The curriculum aims to teach pupils how to decode the ‘universal language’ of music and to encourage a greater understanding and appreciation. 

The intention of the curriculum is to equip pupils with a set of musical skills and an understanding of the key interrelated dimensions required to decode music.  From Reception through to Year 6, the curriculum is delivered to encourage pupils to explore and understand the key dimensions including pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure, and appropriate musical notations.

Implementation

The music curriculum ensures that pupils remember and know more, always building on prior learning and drawing upon key vocabulary. The curriculum also introduces and develops key musical skills which progress across year group units and Key Stages.  Each unit of the curriculum is structured to achieve progression in listening, singing, performing and composing.

Across the curriculum we ensure that musical sound is used as the ‘target language’.  Singing is adopted across lessons and music activities, from sung greetings, echo-singing to learning more complex melodies.  By immersing pupils in this we aim to strengthen all areas of musical learning, develop aural memory and musical internalisation of all pupils.

Music lessons are part of a French and PE PPA structure and are carried out weekly for all year groups from Reception to Year 6, in a purpose-built Music Studio.   Lessons consist of whole class learning, group work and individual learning enabling pupils to strengthen their ability to compose and perform solo and in ensembles.

Impact

Our pupils are talented, creative and confident musicians.  Pupils explore the curriculum in a way that is accessible to them whilst also challenging themselves to investigate the various strands of music.  The impact of music teaching and learning across the school is measured through formative assessment and end of half term summative assessments (Target Tracker).  The skills and key interrelated dimensions learned in music curriculum lessons are further strengthened and explored during other musical activities such as Musical Liturgies, assemblies and extra-curricular lessons including Choir, Rocksteady, Tuned Percussion and peripatetic lessons.

The music curriculum ensures that every pupil meets the end of Key Stage 2 attainment levels outlined in the National Curriculum for Music.  With their acquired skills to decode music in hand, pupils can move onto Key Stage 3.  At the end of Year 6 pupils can move on to their next steps in learning with the foundations of music understanding in place, enabling them to develop further as talented and confident musicians.