Saint Patrick's Catholic Primary School

‘We arise today, to learn, love and grow through Jesus.’

At Saint Patrick’s, we aim to create an environment in which each individual has the opportunity to thrive supported by values of Christ firmly built into our everyday foundations. Education, welfare and wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do. Above all else, we want to foster a strong belief in all our children that they can succeed in all they do, no matter what. Working with all school parties, we wish to nurture each child’s potential and foster high aspirations. It is essential that we give them the tool kit needed to achieve their goals regardless of background or starting points.

Intent

At Saint Patrick's, we believe that, through the study of Music, children broaden their knowledge, experience and love of what they know as ‘music’. Through a high-quality music curriculum, children engage and are inspired to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and as a result, increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Children are exposed to a wide variety of music and musicians from across the globe and periods of time and from a wide variety of music styles, studying how these influential people or movements have molded us as the ‘modern world’. Children partake in composing, playing and appreciating music to give them a positive experience of music in the curriculum and its place in society.

Throughout EYFS, children begin their learning journey for music, by singing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs as part of the expressive arts and design, being imaginative and expressive section of the Early Learning Goals. They perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and learn to move in time with music.

In KS1, through a wide variety of musical experiences, children are taught to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. To widen children’s musical knowledge and exposure to music in a variety of guises, children are taught to listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music. As part of creative and practical activities, children are taught the principles of playing tuned and untuned instruments musically and are given opportunities to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

In KS2, the learning from EYFS and Key Stage 1 are further developed, as part of a progressive continuum of skills and knowledge across the Music curriculum. Pupils are taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control as well as developing an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. Pupils are taught to play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. Children use and understand staff and other musical notations. They improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music. Through exposure to a breadth of genres of music, children learn to listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory. They appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians as well as developing an understanding of the history of music both locally, nationally and internationally.

Our curriculum aims to ensure that 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
•  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
•  understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

The Music curriculum at Saint Patrick’s is organised into six topics per year group, one each half term. The topics follow a similar pattern: listening and appraising, musical activities followed by performance. These develop progressively both throughout the year and subsequently year upon year, reflecting upon previously learning and developing this to the next stage. Music topics are taught across the school at the same time enabling knowledge, skills and resources to be shared and developed as well as monitoring and assessment of the subject to be undertaken.

The Music Curriculum at St Patricks:

Our curriculum is driven through the process of listen, experience, evaluate, explore, enjoy which are explored in a wide breadth of topics. Our curriculum is arranged so that pupils return to these same skills/concepts repeatedly, gradually building an understanding of them, whilst at the same time developing their technical knowledge of Music as a whole.

Progression of Skills in the Music Curriculum at St Patricks:

The curriculum learning experiences of our children are enhanced by the wide variety of visitors and visits planned. We take advantage of the wealth of musical experiences (both modern and historical) on our door step, with year groups experiencing live music from a wide variety of styles and cultures. We have close links with a local Catholic Sixth Form College and our children take part in the Young Voices concert. School supports our local community with the School Choir sharing their talents with local organisations such as Care Homes and Community Centres, as well as close links with St Patrick’s Catholic Church. 

Implementation

The teaching of music focuses on enabling children to experience music from a wide variety of genres and cultures and to provide a healthy exposure to support the love of music and what of course is one of the most expressive arts. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding across all areas of Music, leading to positive experiences and a love of music. We believe that children learn best when:

• They have access to a wide variety of experiences both recorded and live.

• They experience the breadth of the Music curriculum.

• They are provided with opportunities to work both independently and collaboratively to create pieces of music for different purposes.

• They reflect on their own performance and the performances of others.

We recognise that we have children of differing abilities in Music and we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities by matching the challenge of the task to the child’s ability in this particular subject area. We achieve this by:

• Setting open-ended tasks which can have a variety of responses;
• Grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each ability group;
• Providing resources of different complexity depending on the ability of the child;
• Using Teaching Assistants to support children individually or in groups;
• Organising children in such a way that they receive support from their peers;
• Providing resources, equipment, instruments and techniques to support success rather than hinder.

Impact​​​​​​​

At Saint Patrick’s, we believe the welcoming, respectful environment, enriched in Catholic morals and teachings, continues to enhance the educational and pastoral experience of every individual passing through our doors, to ensure that they develop and become well-rounded individuals within the community, with the ambition to reach their potential and succeed. We recognise the unique needs of each child and support them in developing the whole child. We have a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing both their collaborative and independent skills. The impact of our Music curriculum is measured in the experiences, confidence and competence of our children within the subject. We ensure children receive the experiences they require, both within and beyond the curriculum, to develop their skills and knowledge and become confident musicians. By revisiting Musical concepts, children will deepen their understanding and be able to identify links and make connections across musical genres and styles.