St Augustine's Catholic Primary School

INTENT
The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music.
• Are taught to sing, create and compose music.
• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.

At St Augustine’s the intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres. Our objective is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community, and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.

IMPLEMENTATION

At St. Augustine’s we use Charanga, (an online resource), to support our music teaching, as it is a very clear and comprehensive scheme of work, which covers all the national curriculum requirements in a full and progressive way.

Instrumental learning (playing the recorder, ukelele, tuned and untuned percussion) is taught explicitly and progressively using the Charanga units of work.

However, we do not follow the scheme strictly as we prefer to link our music teaching to what is being taught across the curriculum. Resources from the scheme are chosen specifically to support topic work.

Children have the opportunity to learn an instrument in Year 4 through the Surrey Arts tuning up programme.

Each Key Stage takes part in a Worship Through Song session every week in the hall. We aim to have a visiting music workshop, on an annual basis, to give the children the opportunity to experience music from a variety of cultures.

The Key Stage 2 school choir take part in the annual ‘Surrey Music Festival’ where they are able to perform in front of large audiences.

Singing plays a prominent part in all school productions at Christmas, Easter and

at the End of the School year.

Children can access wider music provision from peripatetic music teachers and Rock Steady.

The Music Co-Ordinator works alongside Surrey Arts and local Music Networks to ensure the children are given all opportunities to participate in extracurricular music activities.

IMPACT
Whilst in school, children have access to a varied programme, which allows students to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. The integral nature of music and the learner creates a rich palette from which a student may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Music, through topic work and Charanga, will also develop an understanding of culture and history across the world. Children are able to enjoy music, in as many ways as they choose- either as listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse. They have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop an interest in their lives.