Curriculum Intent

At Harcourt Primary, our Music curriculum is designed to be inclusive and inspiring, enabling every child to enjoy and succeed. All pupils, including those with SEND, are supported to actively engage in musical learning through singing, performing, composing, and appraisal. We celebrate individual creativity and ensure that music is adapted to meet the needs of all learners in order for all to access and engage. We assess for and address skill gaps early so that we help every child build confidence to express themselves through music.

The curriculum is ambitious, broad and rooted in the National Curriculum. It exposes children to a wide range of musical genres, traditions and cultures. We use the SingUp! scheme to develop skills in a way which teaches music as part of real-life context. Key concepts such as rhythm, pitch, notation and structure are revisited and deepened through a carefully sequenced spiral curriculum, allowing pupils to remember more and do more with increasing independence.

Music connects children to the wider world and community. Through performance opportunities, such as Young Voices, and links to our local area’s musical heritage, children experience the real-world value of music. These opportunities foster pride in our community and encourage every child to become a confident, creative musician.

National Curriculum Purpose of study - Music

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

Aims

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all 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.