Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.
Plato
The policy is written with consideration to our school commitment to the Rights of the Child and our achievement of being a Rights Respecting School. It complies with Article 28 of the UNCRC ‘Every child has the right to an education’ as well as Article 29 ‘Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.’ Although direct reference to this is not continuously made, the policy has been written with full awareness of our responsibility and commitment to children’s rights.
At Lady Margaret Primary School, we believe that our high-quality music curriculum encourages every child to respond authentically and honestly to a wide range of music and allows all children to be able to participate in music making, using a variety of instruments. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
At Lady Margaret Primary School, each unit of work is linked to the four key themes across the school: legacy, morality, power and sustainability. By linking learning to the four key themes, the children are posed questions about how they can make a change individually, as a class or as a school. In effect, children are able to use the themes to reflect back on and recall previously taught units in earlier years. If a theme applies to the lesson, a slide should be dedicated to this in the introduction.
Music is a practical, creative subject, which can be of benefit to all children in developing imagination, the ability to listen attentively and critique, and the ability to express personal thoughts and feelings. We aim for all children to have access to and enjoy the music curriculum
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
All children will be taught the skills and knowledge of music as outlined above in the programmes of study in the National Curriculum for music. To do this, the school uses the Charanga Music Scheme which provides all planning and resources for the delivery of music lessons.
Music is taught in all year groups from Reception – Year 6. From year 1 onwards, it is taught by a specialist music teacher.
The use of the Charanga music scheme ensures that all aspects of music are taught with equal weighting. It also provides exposure to a wide range of music from a variety of cultural backgrounds including those outside the traditional canon of Western music.
In the EYFS, songs and rhymes form an integral part of each day’s activities. Charanga is used in Reception, but not in Nursery.
Musical vocabulary should be explicitly taught and then used during lessons. Children should be able to give the definitions of the musical terms they are using. (Refer to the vocabulary progression document for further guidance)
All Year 3 children are involved in African drumming and these sessions are planned and delivered by a specialist Djembe tutor supplied by Ealing Music service.
Progression is integral to the planning designed by Charanga and ensures that students following the program will have opportunities to build on and develop the skills they learn at each stage.
In order for progression to be effective, at the start of each unit, links should be made to prior learning that will be useful and references made to other units covered previously that may have similarities. In addition, where a unit links to study in other areas such as History or Geography, then this should be made explicit
Use of instruments is planned to ensure that children can experience a wide range of instruments both tuned and untuned throughout their time at Lady Margaret Primary School.
Charanga provides differentiated planning and this should be used to provide tasks that both support and challenge pupils as needed within lessons to ensure that tasks are appropriate for each pupil.
Children with identified SEND can be discussed with the SENco and reasonable adjustments will be made as necessary to enable all children to participate in music lesson. Adjustments will vary from child to child.
Music will be monitored through pupil voice, lesson observation and through the quality of final performances at the end of each academic year and this will be completed in accordance with the school’s assessment and monitoring calendar.
Music is included on reports to parents.
The senior team and leader of learning for music will monitor the effectiveness of this policy on a termly basis. The senior team and music leader of learning will report to the governing body on the effectiveness of the policy annually and, if necessary, makes recommendations for further improvements
Music should not be limited to curriculum lessons; it should be part of the fabric of the life of the school. This is achieved in the following ways:
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Last reviewed:
July 2022