Little Sutton’s high-quality music curriculum engages, inspires our pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increases their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. As pupils progress, they develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon. By providing the pupils with a rich music curriculum we are preparing children for the multitude of career opportunities which exist in music.

At Little Sutton music is a subject that gives our children the freedom to express themselves in a way that gives them enjoyment and personal fulfilment. Children acquire the skills and knowledge of music in a systematic way so that each child is able to produce results that demonstrate the knowledge and skills they have developed. The practical music experiences excite children and give them confidence in their own creativity and use of their imagination. Music also support the pupil’s emotional wellbeing.

The aims of our curriculum are taken from the National Curriculum and we ensure that all pupils perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians. Pupils learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence. Our pupils understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations. All classes have a music lesson every week.

A long term plan has been developed for each year group where activities, and clear learning outcomes have been identified. This provides a sound basis from which to develop our scheme of work through individual unit plans. These plans provide content ideas and a specific learning focus for each activity and Year Group. Our music curriculum is sequenced so that there is progression and continuity throughout the years. Curriculum plans have been carefully developed to build on prior learning. Staff teach sequenced music skills, knowledge and vocabulary, with the aim of embedding these into the pupils’ long-term memory so that they can be built upon in subsequent years. Music is taught as a discrete subject, but some musical activities are linked to other subjects, to enable children to understand music as a way of communicating ideas and exploring a topic. This helps pupils to make clear links between the subjects they are learning.

Our children experience educational visits in music to enhance the curriculum. Examples of educational visits include theatres, Symphony Hall and Lichfield Cathedral.

Music professionals are invited into school to work with the pupils. Having specialists into school to work with pupils greatly enhances the curriculum. Opportunities are provided for our gifted and talented pupils to enhance their skills, including learning to play an instrument or being a member of the schools Choir. The Choir have special opportunities to perform in a variety of places including special assemblies, the Symphony Hall and Lichfield Cathedral. Links with a range of providers, including secondary schools, are utilised to provide additional opportunities for our pupils.

Staff continually monitor pupils’ progress throughout music lessons and units, building on and extending prior learning. In Reception, staff undertake observations throughout the year and these are used to record attainment towards the EYFS goals. In KS1 and KS2, a tracking system is used by staff to assess each child’s progress with the music programme of learning, identifying whether they are working towards expected, at expected or working at greater depth within that year group. At the end of each school year, a music report is given as part of the school’s policy on reporting to parents, which describes their child’s progress in meeting the music objectives for that year group.

By the end of Year 2, we aim for the pupils:

• use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes

• play tuned and untuned instruments musically

• listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music

• experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music

By the end of Year 6, we aim for the pupils to:

• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression

• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music

• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory

• use and understand staff and other musical notations

• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians

• develop an understanding of the history of music