Music Development Plan
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School Music Development Plan | [pdf 118KB] |
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Intent
At Enderby Road Infant School, we aim to inspire a love of music in every child. We believe that music can be a powerful tool to support children’s personal development, communication and language skills, and that it contributes to positive mental wellbeing. We intend that our pupils will leave us with a solid foundation of musical skills and understanding, and will see themselves as singers, music makers and performers. Our curriculum is carefully planned to provide a broad and balanced range of musical experiences, ensuring that pupils are exposed to a variety of different types of music; genres, composers and styles. We are committed to ensuring that all our children experience inspirational musical moments, including live music performances, workshops with local musicians, and trips to the theatre. Our ultimate goal is for every child to find joy in music, and for the experiences they have with us to spark a life-long love of music.
Implementation
At Enderby Road Infants, our music curriculum is taught through three weekly sessions; singing, listening and appraisal and making music.
Singing Assembly
Every week, the whole school community gathers for a singing assembly. We sing a range of songs, selected to suit the children’s vocal range. Repertoire is carefully chosen, to link with the wider curriculum or to follow pupils’ interests, and includes a range of piano accompaniment, backing tracks and unaccompanied pieces. Singing assembly always includes a vocal warm up, and reminders about good vocal habits, such as posture and breath control. Singing assemblies consist of a combination of performing well-known repertoire and teaching and learning of new pieces. All children have the opportunity to perform to an audience of parents, at various occasions in the school calendar, including at Harvest, Christmas and within end of year assemblies.
Listening and Appraisal
Class teachers deliver a weekly ‘Listening and Appraisal’ lesson to their classes. The pieces of music for these sessions are set out in our listening calendar, and cover a wide range of genres, composers and styles. The aim of this session is to broaden the children’s horizons, introducing them to new sound worlds, whilst also including styles and pieces which are more familiar to the children. At Enderby Road Infants, developing children’s oracy is at the heart of our curriculum - listening and appraisal lessons offer an opportunity for pupils to have conversations about music, sharing opinions and thoughts with increasing confidence. Teachers carefully introduce musical vocabulary to pupils through these discussions. Pupils also have the opportunity to respond creatively to the music in a variety of other ways, including through drawings or painting, written responses, movement and dance.
Making Music
In ‘Making Music’ lessons, children learn skills from three of the strands in our music curriculum; singing, musicianship and composition. These skills are taught through a combination of songs, games and musical activities, and carefully build upon prior learning. Currently, our music lead delivers these sessions, whilst teaching and support staff join in and take part in the sessions with the children.
Enhancements
Providing pupils with ‘Wow’ experiences is a key part of our curriculum offer at Enderby Road Infant School. We aim to provide real life, inspirational experiences for all of our pupils, across a range of foundation subjects. In music, such experiences include a Taiko Drumming workshop, a performance from local music group ‘folklincs’, visits and performances from professional and local musicians. Throughout the year, we run a range of different after school clubs for pupils across the school, including singing club for younger pupils and a choir for older pupils. Next year, we will be running singing groups, boomwhacker club and bucket drumming!
Impact
Enderby Road Infant School pupils enjoy music in many different ways, as listeners, creators and performers. Our children are able to discuss and share their own thoughts, opinions and ideas about different types of music, acknowledging and respecting that these may vary. The children develop a bank of vocabulary to allow them to begin to comment on specific musical features, and to name a variety of musical instruments. All pupils have the chance to ‘find their voice’, and to learn good vocal techniques for singing. All pupils are able to experience the joy and nerves of performing to an audience, and the sense of accomplishment which comes afterwards. Singing and making music in a group, as a class or as a whole school, develops a sense of community and togetherness, and supports positive mental wellbeing. Our music curriculum ensures that pupils gain a solid foundation of musical knowledge, skills and experiences, to equip them well for the next stage in their music education.