At St. Joseph’s, we have designed a broad, balanced and progressive Music curriculum that fully meets the requirements of the National Curriculum and supports the development of the whole child.
We pride ourselves on delivering an integrated, practical, exploratory and child led approach to music learning. Music is taught using the Charanga Musical School scheme, which ensures high quality, consistent provision and clear progression of skills from Reception to Year 6.
Our intent is to ensure that all pupils:
- Develop a love of music and enjoy making music together
- Acquire a wide range of musical skills, knowledge and understanding
- Perform, listen to and evaluate music from different historical periods, genres and styles
- Develop vocal and instrumental skills
- Understand and begin to use musical notation
- Explore how music is created and produced
- Understand how music links to real world careers and future opportunities
Through music, pupils build confidence, creativity, resilience and self belief, while learning to express themselves and collaborate with others.
Implementation
Music at St. Joseph’s is delivered through the Charanga Musical School Units of Work, which support learning through a spiral, mastery based approach. Musical concepts are revisited regularly through different activities, enabling pupils to develop deeper understanding and long term retention of skills.
Learning music through repetition does not mean slow progress; instead, it allows pupils to:
- Revisit key concepts in different contexts
- Secure understanding through practice
- Build confidence while extending skills
From Reception to Year 6, pupils complete six half termly Units of Work each year. The final unit, Reflect, Rewind and Replay, provides opportunities for consolidation, assessment and extension.
Structure of Music Lessons
Each Charanga unit is built around a core song and includes three main stages:
- Listen and Appraise
- Musical Activities – including games, singing, playing instruments, improvising and composing
- Perform and Share
Key elements include:
- Games that embed the interrelated dimensions of music (such as tempo, pitch, rhythm and dynamics)
- Singing, which sits at the heart of all musical learning
- Playing instruments, both tuned and untuned percussion, with opportunities to play band instruments where available
- A sound before symbol approach, with notation introduced gradually
- Opportunities to improvise and compose using voices and instruments
Pupils regularly work towards performing to an audience, building confidence and pride in their achievements.
Music and Careers
Explicit teaching of musical career links is embedded within music units.
Pupils learn about:
- How music is created, performed and produced
- Different musical roles and professions
- How musical skills are transferable to other careers
Careers explored include:
- Performers and musicians
- Composers and songwriters
- Music producers and sound engineers
- DJs and music technologists
- Music teachers and conductors
This helps pupils understand the purpose of music learning, builds cultural capital and raises aspirations by showing how music can form part of future education, employment and recreation.
Impact
By the time pupils leave St. Joseph’s, they will be:
- Happy, confident musicians
- Able to perform, listen to and evaluate music with increasing skill
- Confident in singing and using instruments
- Familiar with musical notation and key musical vocabulary
- Aware of how music plays a role in culture, society and future careers
The impact of our Music curriculum is measured through:
- Monitoring by the Music subject lead to ensure National Curriculum coverage
- Subject deep dives including pupil voice, book and evidence scrutiny, lesson drop ins and staff discussion
- Assessment of pupils’ musical knowledge and skills through Charanga outcomes
- Sharing good practice across staff
- Ongoing monitoring, evaluation and review to identify next steps
- Tracking of pupil progress year on year to ensure all pupils remain on track from their starting points
Pupils leave St. Joseph’s equipped with the musical skills, confidence and enthusiasm needed for the next stage of their learning and a lifelong appreciation of music.