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Gorseybrigg Primary School and Nursery

Music

At Gorseybrigg Primary School, we believe that music matters.

“Music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel. If we are to hope for a society of culturally literate people, music must be a vital part of our children’s education.” Yo-Yo Ma

Music lessons are planned to include active participation and enjoyment for every child.

Intent

At Gorseybrigg Primary School, we want all our pupils to be inspired and engaged by a high quality music education.

  • We offer children the opportunity to study some of the very best pieces in the musical canon, especially those which they may not otherwise encounter, in order to enrich their cultural awareness.
  • We are committed to promoting depth of knowledge which is supported by the direct teaching of challenging, domain-specific musical vocabulary to enable children to consider and articulate their developing understanding and opinions.
  • Our music curriculum provides a framework for every child to explore their creativity; experiment with and improve their practical skills and participate successfully as part of a community of musicians.
  • We strive to cultivate a real enjoyment of music and to support all children to achieve their full potential.

Implementation

Throughout the academic year, music-making and varied listening opportunities are provided as an enhancement to the wider curriculum including but not limited to:

  • Learning an orchestral instrument and standard staff notation in Year 5 during a series of 30 lessons delivered by music specialists from the Derbyshire Music Hub.
  • Participating in a singing project along with other local schools in Year 2.
  • Attending an orchestral concert with professional musicians in Year 3.
  • Weekly music assemblies, led by the in-school music specialists, which cover music history from Medieval to the present day alongside singing and musicianship skills.

In the summer term, the core music curriculum is delivered during our school-wide creative arts focus. This subject-blocking offers pupils and teachers the time and focus to delve deeply into the musical skills, knowledge and vocabulary required for high quality learning and teaching. Each year group studies two (EYFS and KS1) or three (KS2) pieces of classical music which are related in theme and chosen specifically to engage and inspire children in that age group. These are examined in depth and provide the main vehicle for the teaching of the essential skills of performing, composing, recording ideas, listening and appraising. Progression is embedded into our music curriculum and described in detail in our music skills progression map.

Singing lies at the heart of children’s musical development in primary school and we consider it essential for happiness and well-being as well as for the development of musical skills. It is taught in class as well as during music assemblies. A KS2 choir and seasonal musical performances in every year group offer children further opportunities to experience the pleasure of singing together as well as the motivation to achieve a high standard prior to performing in public.

Leadership

We have two music subject leaders in order to ensure coverage, continuity and progression throughout the whole school. They have a range of joint responsibilities:

  • To monitor and evaluate music teaching and learning
  • To manage the music budget effectively
  • To maintain the music element of the School Improvement Plan
  • To liaise and consult with outside agencies, local clusters and community groups
  • To support and advise teachers in the planning and delivery of music lessons
  • To maintain and monitor music resources including instruments in school
  • To attend and disseminate training
  • To ensure membership of the music teaching professional body is up to date and used in school

Impact

Learning

We want all children at our school to make excellent progress, achieve success and find enjoyment in music. Our belief that music making and performing help our pupils to develop confidence and explore creativity guides the choice of activities and resources to promote active participation by everyone whatever their race, gender, economic status or ability. We strive to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, disabilities, particular gifts and talents and children for whom English is an additional language so that everyone is able to fulfil their potential.

Our music curriculum is filtered through our ‘big idea concepts’ so it has relevance for children’s understanding of our local, national and worldwide community. We hope that our pupils’ adult lives continue to be enhanced by their enjoyment and understanding of music and offer our music curriculum as a foundation for life-long learning and pleasure.

To achieve our high expectations and fulfil our commitment to excellence, we appreciate how crucial it is to engage with students in order to evaluate the impact of our provision. We regularly conduct pupil voice interviews and act on the outcomes. Using our in-year assessment model, we consider the attainment of individuals and use the results to set pupil targets.  

Teaching

To inform excellence in music teaching, we intend that teaching staff will develop a deep knowledge of the curriculum. To enable this, all teachers have access to our Music Mark membership and participate in practical training sessions arranged in-house by our music specialists. We actively seek support from the Derbyshire Music Hub and our music specialists attend their organised events. Assessment against the curriculum enables us to consider attainment and progress and adjust teaching accordingly, communicating achievement in music to children’s new teachers. Regular monitoring including lesson observations, book-looks where appropriate and the checking of planning takes place in a supportive atmosphere where the emphasis is on improvement and the sharing of ideas.

Our Community

The curriculum is designed to value music from all cultures and our resources include songs, pieces and instruments from around the world. Children are taught to recognise and appreciate the differences and similarities between music from different eras and countries. Our curriculum is enriched by our strong links with the music department at DHFS and we regularly collaborate with both secondary and primary schools in joint instrumental and singing projects. Our children have the opportunity to make a positive contribution to our community by performing at local events including at well-dressings, community carol singing and charity concerts. We recognise that music making and performing have a special role in engaging families and welcoming them into school and we use these occasions to provide information about the curriculum and to listen to parental views and suggestions.

Foundation Stage

Our Foundation Stage children enjoy singing as an integral part of every day. Weekly music lessons allow them to have hands on experience with percussion instruments. They practise their music performance skills by singing and playing to parents at harvest, Christmas and in the summer.

Key Stage 1

Our KS1 children enjoy learning the recorder and singing songs as part of their topic work. They celebrate their achievements with a music party led by the Derbyshire Music Hub. They learn the recorder in whole class sessions and are currently participating in the BBC’s new music project, Make Some Noise. They perform to parents in concerts at Christmas.

KS2

Our KS2 children receive whole class tuition in the flute (Y5) for 30 weeks, delivered by instrumental teachers from the Derbyshire Music Hub – this includes learning to read a musical score. Each child is able to borrow a flute free of charge and has the opportunity to perform at Christmas concerts, to parents and peers in school and to experience performing with a professional orchestra (the Halle) in the summer term. More than half choose to continue to learn in smaller groups during Y6. 

Music history is taught through weekly themed assemblies and whole class music lessons which cover the development of music from medieval times to the present day. Y3 further develop their understanding by participating in a music through stories project which culminates in a visit to experience a classical music concert.

All children in KS2 participate in our summer musical performance. Younger year groups perform to parents at Christmas while Y5 and Y6 rehearse and perform a carol concert in the parish church.

Everyone is welcome to join our enthusiastic and talented choir who perform in school and at a wide range of community events, competitions and concerts as well as taking part in Young Voices at the Sheffield Arena.  

The musical community at Gorseybrigg Primary School is vibrant and exciting. We will be further developing our teaching and learning as part of our new curriculum focus. At Gorseybrigg Primary School, we believe that music matters. Music lessons are planned to include active participation and enjoyment for every child. Singing is at the heart of our curriculum, taught through Sing Up amongst other resources, and everyone has the opportunity to learn the elements of music using our fantastic class set of traditional djembe drums. Children have a wide range of opportunities to listen to live music including professional orchestras and local musicians. We aim to support every child to enjoy achieving their full potential.