Music

The National Curriculum is at the core of our Music Curriculum. Music is a highly valued subject and has equal status with all other Foundation Subjects.

Our intent with our Music curriculum is to give all children practical experiences so that they can enjoy all aspects of Music. We believe Music is an important part of our wider curriculum that gives children opportunities to express themselves in a less academic way than, for example, the basic skills of Reading, Writing and Maths.

We enrich our Music curriculum with many opportunities for children to perform and develop a wide range of skills both inside and outside of the classroom such as music workshops.

Our school curriculum is built upon the National Curriculum and our chosen scheme is Charanga. This was selected because it provides a clear progression of all the skills and knowledge that we are required to teach.

Many of our staff are non-specialist and it enables them to access the subject knowledge needed to be highly effective in their teaching of Music. All staff are supported by the subject leader in developing their knowledge and understanding of the Charanga scheme through a planned series of CPD opportunities.

In addition to following the Charanga scheme, we have a wide offer of instrument teaching, largely through peripatetic staff. We are also very fortunate at Hugo Meynell in having a musician who comes and places the piano to support singing each week and who holds a singing club to extend the curriculum in Music.

We give the children wider opportunities to perform to a larger audience such as class assemblies, nativity productions and Big Sing workshops with other schools.

We are confident that the design of Charanga provides clear progression in all four strands of Music, but will keep this under review. This progression enables formative assessment to further develop teaching and learning in Music. Charanga also gives clear indications of how to differentiate in lessons to challenge the more able. Further differentiation is provided through opportunities such as choir and Music workshops.

We endeavor to ensure that Music is not seen as a stand-alone subject, but is incorporated into may other areas of our curriculum.

The impact of our Music curriculum is that when children leave St. John's,  they will have a love of music and increased levels of self-confidence. They will be inspired by different genres of music, analyse music and compose a variety of music.