Our Intent

Why do we teach this?​

At Newton Leys Primary School, we believe that all children should have access to high quality, enjoyable musical opportunities.  Music is beneficial to our children’s development and well-being and helps to enrich their lives and education. We recognise the role that music plays in the acquisition of knowledge and its importance in the raising of academic standards within the school, as well as its inclusivity to pupils of all abilities.  ​

Our teaching will help children to develop their musical knowledge, skills and understanding by providing a range of opportunities to listen to a great variety of musical genres, explore performing on musical instruments and express themselves through creating sounds.  ​

We aim to provide a rich tapestry of musical experiences for all children throughout their school lives, helping to nurture, develop and celebrate their musical skills and talents.  ​

We understand that allowing children to fully access a high-quality musical curriculum creates opportunities to begin a life-long musical journey, developing talents and an enjoyment and passion for music that may transport them far beyond the walls of the classroom. ​

In each unit of work, we aim to develop pupil's technical, constructive and expressive skills to help deepen their musicianship and automaticity in music through performing, playing, improvising and composing. 

Implementation

At Newton Leys we deliver a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum through the SingUp scheme of learning. All musical learning in this scheme is built around the interrelated dimensions of music: pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation. These dimensions are at the centre of all the learning and weave through the units to encourage the development of musical skills as the learning progresses through listening and appraising, differing musical activities including singing, exploring tuned and untuned instruments, improvisation, composing and performing. From Reception to Year 6, each term consists of one six- week unit and 2 three -week units. Taking an intergrated approach, the six-week units focus around one song where the children are given the opportunities to play, sing, listen, compose and improvise in the unit. The three- week units are grouped in pairs and are covered over one-half term. These units either focus on listening and appraising or composing and improvising at a deeper level. Teachers follow the units suggested by the scheme (as well as incorporating the recorder and ukulele units across Key Stage 2) but can adapt and substitute units or add additional materials where this is deemed to benefit learning or to be more appropriate for thematic learning in other curriculum areas. Every year group will build upon the learning from prior year groups, therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills. Opportunities to introduce and discuss subject specific vocabulary are taken in lessons to ensure a comprehensive understanding of musical terms. Music is an inclusive subject which is accessible to all pupils. To support some of our SEN children, they are pre-taught songs and vocabulary to allow them to contribute confidently in lessons. Children who are more able are given opportunities to perform on their own instruments where appropriate in curriculum lessons, as well as developing their composition skills on an individual.

Music of the Week:​
Our curriculum teaching is supplemented with our weekly whole school ‘Music of the Week’, enabling the children to listen to a wide variety of musical genres, musicians and composers from past to present. These pieces of music are chosen to support assembly topics, curriculum weeks, world events or important dates linked to significant composers and musicians, giving the children a diverse listening experience. Children are encouraged to respond critically to each piece of music, using musical vocabulary to discuss form, genre, instrumentation and structure. ​

Wider Opportunities:​
Children are then encouraged to continue their learning experience in individual musical instrument lessons taught by specialist teachers from The Rhythm Room.  These lessons take place during school time and are taught in addition to our music curriculum. Children in Key Stage 2 are encouraged to take part in I choir, where there are several opportunities throughout the year to perform songs as a group to various audiences. ​Our children also have the opportunity to take part in an ensemble in the form of Rocksteady where they can play guitar, keyboard, drums or learn vocals and perform each term. We have two choirs over the course of the academic year, one choir will take part in the Young Voices performance in the O2 arena as part of a huge choir with other schools. The school choir will then be formed after this event and practise with other songs weekly for performances.

Singing Assemblies: At Newton Leys Primary School, we believe that singing assemblies help to build a sense of school community, as well as support children’s self-confidence and emotional well-being.  All children in the school participate in weekly singing assemblies in each key stage.  They learn a range of songs, exploring different styles and genres, as well as songs from different cultures. 

Performance Opportunities: Every Christmas, Early Years and Key Stage 1 children take part in a performance where they can utilise their singing skills from music lessons and singing assemblies, to perform with their peers for an audience. Year 6 children also take part in a leavers’ production in the summer term, show-casing their skills and talents to an audience. ​
Throughout the year we aim to give our children many opportunities to perform in front of audiences. We also believe in giving the children opportunities to perform at school events, such as the Christmas carol events, open evenings and continue to build community links with local senior citizens by performing songs at local facilities. ​

Pilot projects: Year 5 and 6 will be taking part in a pilot project all about Arabic music, provided by MK Music Hub in the Spring term. KS1 also take part in a music festival and whole school singing for World Music Day. Each project has given children opportunities to further develop their musical knowledge and experiences. ​ 

Impact

Our music curriculum has been broken down into progressive skills and knowledge for:​

• Listening and appraising​
• Recognising pulse, rhythm and pitch​
• Singing​
• Playing​
• Improvisation​
• Composition​
• Performance

All pupils will benefit from a high-quality music education which engages and inspires them to develop a love of music and their talent as music-makers. It will increase their self-confidence, creativity, ability to co-operate and sense of achievement. ​

As pupils progress, they will develop a growing musical vocabulary that allows them to critically engage with music. The children also celebrate their success and skills with their peers and wider audiences. ​

Progress will be monitored through teacher assessment, pictures and video evidence which captures each child’s progress throughout the year. Teaching and learning of music is a reflective process for the children as they are given the opportunities to assess themselves and their peers. Video evidence can also be used to encourage critical engagement from the children to evaluate and improve their own performances. Pupil voice is also used to assess pupil’s attitudes and engagement in the music curriculum.