Our Musical Adventure - The Music Curriculum at Godinton

Music Long Term Overview

Music Progression of Skills

Music Knowledge

Music in Focus

Curriculum Intent

At Godinton Primary School, we are passionate about the teaching and learning of music. Music plays an important and consistent part in the life of the children. At Godinton, we aim to teach high quality music lessons that engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music to help increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement as musicians.  As pupils progress through the school, they develop critical skills within music, allowing them to compose and perform with an increased awareness of the steps and skills involved within this process.  We wish to give every child the opportunity to experience and enjoy music through a variety of fun and engaging opportunities. We also aim to promote pupils’ social, cultural, spiritual and global development through music.

Please click here to view our Music Curriculum end point document.

As part of our Guiding Stars curriculum, Art, Design Technology and Music are the leading light subjects for ‘Creative Thinking’.

Within these curriculum areas, the children learn how to manipulate sound, media and materials to respond to different stimuli in interesting and innovative ways and they capture ideas in visual or audio form. The children learn how to make prototypes to test ideas. They come up with new solutions and are not afraid to adopt a trial and error approach, thinking outside the box and evaluating success and looking for ways to improve. The children enjoy collaborating in order to make the best of everybody’s ideas and discover how famous artists, architects and musicians paved the way with new ideas and discoveries.

Click on the Creative Thinking icon below to find out more about how the children’s understanding of creative thinking progresses throughout these curriculum areas.

Curriculum Implementation

At Godinton Primary School, our music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate a wide range of musical genres. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as the weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances and the learning of instruments. We have adopted the musical scheme ‘Charanga’, which is specifically designed for primary schools, to support teachers in the delivery of our music curriculum. With the support of Charanga, teachers are able to deliver inclusive lessons for all children to access the musical curriculum in a fun and engaging way, further promoting a love of learning.  Charanga lessons are planned in sequences to provide children with the opportunities to review, remember, deepen and apply their understanding. The elements of music are taught in classroom lessons so that children are able to use some of the language of music to dissect it, and understand how it is composed, played, appreciated and analysed. In the classroom children, have access to tuned and percussion instruments. Playing various instruments enables children to use a range of methods to create notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument. Singing also forms a core part of the curriculum.

Each term our all children are given the opportunity to perform a piece of music from their current term’s unit of study during our Charanga Showcase Assemblies.  The assembly is led by our music co-ordinator who will also share key facts about the musical piece being performed by the class and will lead discussions regarding the structure of the musical composition.

All of our children are also given the opportunity to learn how to play a Ukulele during their time in year 4. These lessons are led by our music specialist.  In addition to ukulele lessons, children are also given the opportunity to learn to play the ocarina and the recorder. We hope that by introducing our children to these instruments, they will be inspired to learn how to play other instruments and may take up musical instrument tuition as led by peripatetic music teachers who work in the school. 

Our children have the opportunity to participate in musical events outside the school such as collaborative concerts with other local schools or visits to musical productions. Annually, our Key Stage Two choir participates in the ‘Young Voices’ choir held at the O2 – an amazing experience!

EYFS

The EYFS framework is structured very differently to the National Curriculum and it is organised across seven areas of learning rather than subject areas. Music appears under the specific area of Expressive Arts and Design, but it also features in the prime area of Communication and Language, and Physical Development.

In our Reception classrooms, Music is taught through a play-based approach, alongside more structured lessons. Children are provided with opportunities to explore, create, listen and move to music both inside and outside the classroom. Musical experiences are often linked to an overarching theme for the term such as ‘It’s Cold Outside’ or ‘A Royal Adventure’. For example, children explore keeping a beat with the drums and claves whilst imagining a Chinese New Year parade during their work on celebrations. Children are taught key skills such as finding a pulse, using high and low voices, and copying rhythms through our delivery of the ‘Charanga’ music scheme. A love of music is instilled in our children from the moment they arrive at Godinton, through their exposure to traditional nursery rhymes and energetic action songs. A range of musical instruments are readily available for the children to compose and perform their own pieces both individually or collaboratively with their peers.

It is our aim that when children at Godinton Primary School finish their first year at school and move into Year 1, they will be able to:

• Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs
• Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and (when appropriate) try to move in time with music.

Curriculum Impact

The impact of this curriculum design will lead to secure progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point. Children will therefore be expected to leave Godinton reaching at least age-related expectations for Music. We ensure that children who are achieving well, as well as those who need additional support, are identified, and additional provision and strategies are planned into lessons to support their needs.

Below you can find our school Music Policy and our Music Development Plan which outlines musical priorities at Godinton over the coming year.