Music at Sparken Hill Academy

Aims

The music curriculum at Sparken Hill Academy is built upon the foundations laid down by the National Model Music Curriculum for Music (see link below). These foundations are underpinned by the core musical skills of Singing, Listening, Composing and Performing/Playing Musical Instruments.

By enabling weekly specialist music teaching for every child in school, these foundations can be extended to allow children to progress through school consistently engaged with 3 pillars of musical development. These are;

                  Technical.                                         Constructive.                              Expressive.

The technical pillar enables pupils to translate their intentions successfully into sound. This will encompass instrumental playing, singing and music technology.

The constructive pillar enables pupils to build on previous learning to develop the knowledge of how musical components come together and inter-relate. Thus, supporting the creative process and enabling deep listening and appraising skills.

The expressive pillar, is focused on the more indefinable aspects of music: quality, meaning, feelings, intention and creativity.

At Sparken Hill Academy it is our intention that through our curriculum, resources and delivery all children will:

• Develop their singing with a sense of pitch and ensemble, allowing them to perform with confidence and enjoyment.
• Have a growing sense of curiosity about Music, The Arts and the world in general with an understanding of why Music happens and where inspiration comes from.
• Develop a deep and wide musical vocabulary, allowing access to creative ideas and debate about the value of Music and The Arts more widely.
• Be able to turn their own musical intentions successfully into sound through a growing confidence and skill set on a wide variety of instruments.
• Be able to successfully record and manipulate musical intentions using ICT.
• Be increasingly confident and skilled to follow and give musical direction, enabling them to successfully work in small and large groups to create a unifying experience.

Follow this link to see and hear our curriculum in action.

Intent

What are we trying to achieve for our children in Music?

An aspirational, high quality and context appropriate music curriculum will enable children to build on their innate enjoyment of the subject and develop lifelong skills and understanding. It will develop critical thinkers who can fearlessly express their own ideas, underpinned with technical skills and knowledge.

At Sparken Hill, the music curriculum is designed to be accessible in a hands on way in the music room and through ICT and creative art based activities in the classroom. With the additional use of Google Classroom the pupils can demonstrate their learning through a variety of media and easily access previous learning. This enables the development of the inter-related connectivity that defines effective music making.

Implementation 

How is the curriculum delivered?

Music is delivered across the whole school by a specialist music teacher supported by extensive resources that include a fully equipped music room with a wide range of instruments and access for each child in KS2 to an individual iPad with appropriate music Apps and Google Classroom. Every child receives an hourly music lesson every week and opportunities are easily accessed for children to extend this to up to 2 or 3 hours a week with after school clubs and lunchtime sessions.

A sing and play model runs through the whole school enabling children to develop their understanding of challenging musical concepts by ‘doing first’. Their achievements, both practical and non-practical are recorded and assessed through Google Classroom.

Impact

What difference is the curriculum making? How do you know whether pupils know what you think they know?

The children at Sparken Hill Academy are engaged with and stimulated by their music making opportunities. They fearlessly and readily play the musical instruments and are able to manipulate and control sounds with understanding and creativity.

We measure and evidence this through extensive use of recorded media where children can show what they can do and talk about how they understand the concepts they are working on.

We are able to give children direct feedback on these achievements both due to the regular nature of the lessons for everyone and through Google Classroom in KS2.

Our long-term plans show clear progression across the whole school which consistently refers to and builds upon previous learning.

And last but not least pupils are have an open platform to feedback via pupil voice and electronic surveys which alongside termly teacher assessment, inform future planning and curriculum design.