Music

Intent

At Findern Primary School our intention is to help all children to feel that they are musical and to develop a life-long love of music. Through music we help pupils to listen, appreciate and differentiate between different sounds and to work together and express themselves. This involves a range of opportunities for instrument playing which encourages children’s interest in, and knowledge of, different sounds.  In our singing practise assemblies, we perform a range of songs which fosters community, creates a group identity and develops skills and techniques. It also gives the children a bank of songs that they will remember in years to come.

The school encourages children to take part in a wide range of performances from playing and singing with others to performing in their classroom, class assemblies and performances such as Christmas plays. The school has its very own choir which is made up of children from all year groups and they have performed in school, for the local village fete and visited the old people’s home. 

We use music as a tool for personal development by offering private music lessons to all our children including children with Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND), Looked After Children and those in receipt of Pupil Premium. School contributes to the cost of music tuition to ensure barriers are overcome and all children have an equal opportunity. We work closely with the Derbyshire Music Partnership and through them we are able to offer a variety of music lessons including, guitar, piano and singing. The children who have lessons have the opportunity to showcase what they have learnt in a performance assembly. 

We understand the enjoyment of experiencing live music and we look for opportunities for children to listen to live musicians perform. We have links with the John Port School Band and local musicians who come and perform for us.

Implementation

Our approach to all children as individuals, including those with SEND, alongside our accurate and on-going assessment, together with our subscription to our fantastic learning platform; Charanga, mean that all children, including those with additional needs, can access the curriculum on offer.

Our school uses Charanga as a resource in every year group to ensure that progression is being made and learning is built upon on in each year group. This ensures continuity and progression are at the centre of both long- and short-term planning across the school curriculum.

Our Year 3 class work with the Derby and Derbyshire Music Partnership to learn how to play Samba music using a variety of percussion instruments. They will also play Djembe instruments as an ensemble. This is delivered  by specialist music teachers. 

Impact

By the end of their time at our school children will be able to:

• name and discuss a range of instruments, their texture and how they are used and then compose pieces individually or within a group, performing it to others after rehearsing and then evaluate it.
• Play a range of tuned and untuned instruments using the correct techniques.
• Listen to, and appraise, pieces of music in a range of styles, discussing the musical elements that they can hear, identify how a piece of music makes them feel and respond to it in words or pictures, or creating their own musical response.  As a result of the teaching in our school children will develop their knowledge of a range of music, both current, historical and from around the world allowing for a deeper understanding of different times and world cultures.
• Understand the lives and techniques of a range of composers from different times and analyse their work, emulating it and using it as a starting point for their own compositions.
• Help children to develop a lifelong love of music to help them regulate their emotions, identify their feelings, develop their cognitive ability and transfer their musical skills to a range of disciplines, with many being inspired to go on to play an instrument in later life. This will improve their mental wellbeing, social skills and open up a number of jobs to them in the future.