Music teaching at Sandhurst Primary School aims to follow the specifications of the National Curriculum; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum and ensuring the progressive development of musical concepts, knowledge and skills. At Sandhurst we believe that enjoyment of music plays an integral role in helping children to feel part of a community, therefore we provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music both in class and to an audience. Through assemblies and key stage performances, children aim high to demonstrate their talent and their understanding of performing with awareness of others. They are also able to show their kindness to others by sharing their musical talents with the local community.
Lessons enable children to challenge and develop their skills, appreciate a wide variety of music and begin to appraise a range of musical genres.
The aims of our Music curriculum are to develop pupils who:
- Enjoy and have an appreciation for music.
- Listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, cultures, styles and traditions.
- Can sing and use their voices to create different effects.
- Create and compose music, both on their own and with others.
- Use a range of musical language.
- Make judgements and express personal preferences about the quality and style of music.
- Take part in performances with an awareness of audience.
All children have access to music regardless of their academic ability, race, ethnicity, background and language. SEND pupils are actively encouraged to participate fully as music is often an area of the curriculum which allows them to excel. We aim to provide children with the opportunity to progress to the next level of their creative excellence.
We are also proud to be recognised as a Music Mark school for our commitment to providing high quality music lessons throughout the school.
Music in the EYFS
Within the EYFS setting, music is an integral part of children’s learning journey. Rhyme and rhythm are utilised throughout the learning of phonics, handwriting and mathematics. Children learn a wide range of songs and rhymes and develop skills for performing together. Singing and music making opportunities are used frequently to embed learning, develop musical awareness and to demonstrate how music can be used to express feelings.
Implementation in KS1 and KS2
Music teaching at Sandhurst Primary School delivers the requirements of the National Curriculum through use of the Charanga scheme of work. Teachers follow the suggested scheme of work, although adaptations can be made using the ‘freestyle’ element of the package to substitute units deemed to be more appropriate for thematic learning in other curriculum areas. Music lessons are broken down into half-termly units and an emphasis is placed on musical vocabulary, allowing children to talk about pieces of music using the correct terminology.
See the table below for termly units.
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |
| Year 1 | Hey you! | Rhythm in the Way we Walk and Banana Rap | In the Groove | Round and Round | Your Imagination | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
| Year 2 | Hands, Feet, Heart | Ho, Ho, Ho | I Wanna Play in a Band | Zoo Time | Friendship Song | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
| Year 3 | Let your Spirit Fly | Glockenspiel 1 | Three Little Birds | The Dragon Song | Bringing us Together | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
| Year 4 | Mama Mia | Glockenspiel 2 | Stop! | Lean on me | Blackbird | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
| Year 5 | Livin’ on a Prayer | Classroom Jazz 1 | Make you Feel my Love | The Fresh Prince of Bel Air | Dancing in the Street | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
| Year 6 | Happy | Classroom Jazz 2 | A New Year Carol | You’ve got a Friend | Music and me | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
Performance is also an important part of musical teaching and learning at Sandhurst and pupils participate in a range of performances during their school ‘career’. These include nativities (KS1 and KS2), Easter performances (Years R-6) and a Leavers performance (Year 6). Pupils also take part in Harvest assemblies, class assemblies (Years R-6) and singing assemblies. Alongside our curriculum provision for music, pupils also have the opportunity to participate in additional Rock Steady music lessons and every year our choir takes part in the Young Voices concert at the 02 (Years 3 -6)
Each unit of work has an on-going musical learning focus and lessons usually follow a specific learning sequence:
- Listen and Appraise
- Musical Activities (including pulse and rhythm)
- Singing and Voice
- Playing instruments · Improvisation / Composition
- Perform and Share
Throughout their journey at Sandhurst, children’s musical skills and understanding are built year on year, from singing nursery rhymes and action songs from memory and performing simple rhythm patterns on tuned and untuned percussion instruments in Early Years, progressing their skills and understanding in KS1 where they also experience whole class instrumental tuition on the recorder or glockenspiel, to further developing their skills and knowledge of the subject in lower KS2, where the children access music confidently, and have the ability to read and follow a simple musical or graphical score. Throughout all of this the child’s enjoyment of music is a key element, running alongside the ‘taught’ musical skills and objectives.
We want our pupils to develop a love for music and as a result remind them, if they continue to aim high, as a responsible citizen, they could become:
- Theatre performer
- Audio designer
- Casting director
- Performer
- Song writer
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Use of the assessment tools provided within the Charanga scheme.
- Pupil discussions and interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Photo and video evidence of the pupils practical learning.
Aspirations for the future
We want our pupils to develop a love for music and as a result remind them, if they continue to aim high, as a responsible citizen, they could become a Theatre performer, Audio designer, Casting director, Performer or Song writer
Our music curriculum is based on the Charanga world-leading music teaching and learning platform.
Charanga is a music education and technology company based in Brighton in the UK. They hve developed an online platform that provides teachers and students with the help and resources they need to achieve their musical ambitions.
They, like us believe that everyone who uses the Charanga platform should enjoy every minute of their music education. We are both passionate about children’s music learning and its potential to help them grow up as kind, curious, and open-minded young people, who are sensitive and knowledgeable about music and the arts.
"We know that we can transform music teaching and learning by combining world-class educational technology, solid pedagogy, and great resources. This is what has driven Charanga from its very beginnings."
Find out more by visiting their website : https://charanga.com/site/musical-school/