Intent

At West Leigh Infants School, we aim to provide high-quality music education to engage and inspire our pupils to develop a love of music. We also aim to develop their talents as musicians. Our music curriculum promotes creativity, self expression and encourages our children on their musical journey. The children will use their voices expressively and creatively by singing or speaking songs, chants and rhymes. They will listen and respond to the music of others and in doing so will begin to understand how music can represent emotions and express thoughts and feelings. Our pupils will learn and use the technical vocabulary of music, for example pulse, rhythm, pitch and tempo.  All children will be given the opportunity to play instruments as they progress through the school. Children in Year 2 will have the opportunity to learn to play the recorder.  By singing and playing together, they will be helped to develop concentration, memory, self-reliance, confidence and a sense of teamwork. They will be given opportunities to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds in a compositional way. All children at West Leigh will have opportunities to take part in performances and concerts within the school, the community and with other cluster schools.

Implementation

Music teaching at West Leigh delivers the requirements of the National Curriculum by using the Charanga Musical School Scheme. This provides teachers with practical and engaging week-by-week lesson support.  It is ideal for specialist and non-specialist teachers alike and provides units of work comprising the following strands of musical learning: -

• listening and appraising,
• musical activities and tasks,
• singing and playing instruments,
• improvisation and composition,
• performing and sharing.  

It enables children to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. The same musical concept is explored through different musical activities, thereby building a more secure, deeper understanding and mastery of musical skills.  All musical learning in this scheme is centred on the core principles of music: – pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation.

In addition to our music lessons, all children attend a weekly singing assembly, where they have the opportunity to learn and perform a range of songs. Seasonal school concerts and performances happen throughout the year such as Christmas, Easter and Summer concerts.  Arts week usually takes place in Term 3 where all year groups have the opportunity to experience songs, music and musical instruments from around the world.

Currently, all pupils in Year 2 receive a 30 minute recorder lesson each week which is led by a specialist teacher from North Somerset Music Service. This culminates in a performance to parents at the end of the summer term.

Our pupils are encouraged to perform in their year groups or whole school concerts to parents and the wider school community. Foundation Stage - Mini music makers and Year 2 - Summer Sing are established and enjoyable examples of this.

Impact

Our pupils are enthusiastic about music and they gain pleasure from it. They are competent singers, performers and beginning their journey as composers. They are able to listen to music and express their opinions using musical terminology.  They know how music is used to create and respond to moods and emotions.   Music enhances a pupil’s creativity, imagination, concentration and memory.  They take responsibility for their own performance and respect the roles of other performers thereby developing a sense of teamwork and collaboration.  Pupils’ achievements are assessed based on progression through the strands and expectations of the National Curriculum for Music.

Music is valued and celebrated at West Leigh. The aim is not only to develop technical skills but most importantly to encourage a lifelong love of music.