Music Intent:

At Mottram CE Primary School, we aim to provide all of our pupils with enjoyable and valuable learning experiences in Music. Our school prides itself on a love of singing and this is embedded throughout our school. All pupils are encouraged to express themselves through Music.

We follow the KAPOW Music scheme, which is first and foremost to help children to feel that they are musical and to develop a life-long love of music. This focuses on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that children need to become confident performers, composers, and listeners. The curriculum introduces children to Music from all around the world and across generations, teaching children to respect and appreciate the Music of all traditions and communities.

Music Implementation:

Early Years Foundation Stage:

In Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the teachers use the Development Matters document to plan, leading to the achievement of The Early Learning Goals (ELG) set out in EYFS Statutory Framework. In Early Years Foundation Stage, Music is taught through the specific area ‘Expressive Arts and Design’, where children are given the opportunity to explore and engage in music making and dance. They will be introduced to new musical vocabulary. They will learn to listen and move to a range of music, sing expressively and discuss musical performances.

Key Stage 1 and 2:

Music is taught for approximately 30 – 60 minutes every week in each class. We use a holistic approach to music, in which the individual strands below are woven together to create engaging and enriching experiences:

  • Performing
  • Listening
  • Composing
  • Appreciation
  • The history of music
  • The inter-related dimensions of music

These dimensions (pulse, pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture structure and appropriate musical notation) are built on year-on-year throughout the school, exposing the children to an ever-growing range of musical vocabulary. We follow a whole-school progression document, based upon these key concepts.

We share singing during whole-school Collective Worships, class Collective Worship, performances and musical assemblies.

In addition to the curriculum, pupils are also offered one-to-one music lessons from Tameside Music Services, with pupils choosing a range of instruments to learn, including violin, keyboard, flute, recorder and guitar.

Music Impact:

Following the combination of our Music curriculum and the musical involvement in other aspects of school life, our pupils:

  • are confident and enthusiastic performers who are able to express themselves musically
  • show a respect and appreciation for music from all around the world
  • understand some of the many cultural, social and historical influences in music
  • understand how music is recorded and show an understanding of how it can be read
  • enthusiastically discuss their own musical preferences
  • meet the end of key stage expectations in the National Curriculum
  • participate in a wide range of musical activities for their personal enjoyment
  • build up the skills to participate in performances

Music Skills Progression ELG

Pupil Voice

EYFS – I like to sing and dance.

Year 1 – I like it when we play the beat in songs.

Year 2 – We used our voices to and the instruments to sound like a farmyard.

Year 3 – We get to listen to others perform a lot.

Year 4 – I got to write my own music. It was great!

Year 5 – We wrote a song for a pharaoh using low and high notes.

Year 6 – We have listened to a variety of blues music and talked about how it made us feel.

Year 6 – I enjoyed making melodies using a xylophone.