Music Statement of Intent
An education without music would deprive pupils of the fundamental skills of a universal language – one that inspires pupils to develop a love of music, and have a sense of achievement, a subject which promotes confidence, creativity, brain development and an appreciation of world culture and history.
At St Minver School, we make music an enjoyable learning experience through a curriculum which is broad and creative, embedded in tradition, and sequenced in a way which builds on previous teaching. It takes into account potential gaps in learning experiences due to the pandemic in the aim of providing a broad and balanced curriculum. The progression of skills and knowledge taught is rooted in a drive towards clearly defined goals.
All pupils, regardless of social and economic starting points, will experience the subject through a variety of vehicles, including technology. Children of all ages are taught how to work with others to compose music as part of an ensemble, as well as participate in a variety of musical experiences, performing to audiences in school and out. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music and all pupils are given opportunities to learn a musical instrument.
In music lessons, children will listen to, review, evaluate and perform music of varying styles, genres and traditions from a range of historical periods, including the works of the great composers and musicians. They will foster a critical attitude when evaluating and performing music and develop descriptive skills in lessons when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions, understanding and using the concepts and effects of pulse and pitch, dynamics, tempo, timber and texture to analyse music. Children will be taught about musical notation and structures and about how music is crafted, produced and communicated.
Our music lessons broadly follow a scheme of work by Charanga which complements the curriculum, scaffolding the learning opportunities throughout the Key Stages, giving confidence to all teachers to deliver exciting and purposeful lessons with a progression of skills that enables children to succeed in their next stages of learning. However, opportunities are also made to make music relevant to children of St Minver School, by linking learning to class topics, utilising local musicians and learning about local musical traditions. There are also opportunities to listen and appraise a range of classical music as each year group studies one of the BBC Ten Pieces per term.
Every Unit of Work within Charanga includes the strands of learning which correspond with the National Curriculum for music:
- Listening and Appraising
- Musical Activities, including singing, playing instruments, improvisation and composition
- Performing
Our school has an excellent reputation for its musical and dramatic works, due to a strong tradition of performing to audiences at a variety of events through the year. We invite parents and the wider community to an annual Spring Concert, KS1 and KS2 Christmas shows and a Year 6 Leavers' show. Children thrive in our music lessons and enjoy the variety of genres studied along with the other musical experiences and performances throughout their time at St Minver.
