Music and Drama in the Primary Phase
Music Statement of Intent
At Chetwynde school, we make music an enjoyable learning experience. Music is taught by a specialist teacher to all classes in the Primary school in our dedicated, well-equipped music studio.
We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music.
As children get older, we expect them to maintain their concentration for longer and to listen to more extended pieces of music. Children develop descriptive skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions. We teach them the disciplined skills of recognising pulse and pitch. Also, we teach the children how to work with others to compose music and perform for an audience. Finally, we ensure every child will have the opportunity to learn a variety of instruments during their primary years and are taught by a music specialist; pupils learn to read music and play as part of an ensemble.
Aims of Music in the National Curriculum:
The national curriculum for music and our progression of skills within each milestone aims to ensure that all pupils:
- To confidently perform either singing or skilfully playing an instrument, either solo or as part of a group.
- To compose and create song with verses and chorus and create rhythmic patterns and an awareness of timbre and duration; digital technology may be used to compose, edit and refine pieces of music.
- To transcribe and use standard musical notation and read and create notes on the musical stave.
- To describe music, using a wide range of musical vocabulary to accurately describe and appraise.
Our aims in primary music, as well as covering the National Curriculum for music are
- Provide opportunites in every term for the children to perform in front of a live audience, either singing and/or playing instruments.
- Provide a range of opportunities for all children to listen to a wide variety of live and recorded music and theatrical performances
- Inspire a lifelong love of music
- Encourage children to join numerous extracurricular musical opportunities.
Students enjoy singing together weekly and having access to our numerous instruments including keyboards, recorders, glockenspiels, boomwhackers, drum kits, electric guitars, ukuleles, acoustic guitars and much more. Students are taught how to play these instruments from a young age.
Here is a copy of the musical learning journey for our children from entry into our primary school. This scheme covers all elements of the National Curriculum for music and bring in learning from drama and dance.
Every year we give the KS2 children chance to take part in the Young Voices concerts. These events bring together students from across the North West of England to sing together at the Manchester Arena. This is a unique experience and one we believe all children should be able too access. We are proud to say we have taken part in this for the last 7 years.
Each year our KS2 children look forward to a musical performance in the Summer term. Due to COVID19 our 2020 production of We Will Rock You had to be postponed but in 2019 we performed The Wizard of Oz which was a great hit with the audience and the children involved.
We strive to offer as many performance opportunities as possible to our students as we see the confidence such experiences give. We have regular class assemblies held in our theatre and termly events such as the Harvest festival, Remembrance Day service and Easter assembly.
We also take part in various events outside of school including the South Lakes Music Festival, Furness Voices, UDance and many more.
We were extremely pleased to receive the Music Mark certification for 2020 - 2021 from Cumbria Music Service. This is to recognise the value we put on music at Chetwynde.
Cumbria Music Service said -
'We would like to thank you for all the hard work you and your colleagues do to ensure that pupils at your school are able to access and engage with high-quality music education. Your dedication to offering and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum is both welcomed and celebrated.'