Wadhurst CE Primary School & Nursery

At Wadhurst, music is woven through all aspects of school life, bringing together everyone, adults and children alike, in joy and happiness.  Our music curriculum is designed to first and foremost help children to feel that they are musical and to develop a lifelong love of music.  We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that children need in order to become confident listeners, composers and performers.  Our curriculum inspires children to be curious about music from all around the world and across generations, teaching children to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities. 

Children will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and un-tuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down.   

Through music, our curriculum helps children to feel empowered and develop their talents as musicians which in turn will increase their confidence and creativity.  

At Wadhurst music will aid children to learn transferrable skills, such as teamwork, leadership, creative thinking, problems solving and presentation and performance skills; all vital to children’s development as learners and will go on to have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond school. 

Why do we use the scheme we use? Kapow Primary’s music Scheme takes a holistic approach to music which the individual strands are knitted together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences: 

• Performing 

• Listening 

• Composing 

• History of Music 

• The inter-related dimensions of music 

Each five-lesson unit combines these strands within cross-curricular topic designed to capture pupils’ imagination and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically.  Over the course of the scheme, children will be taught to sing fluently and expressively, and play instruments accurately and with control.  They will learn to recognize and name interrelated dimensions of music – dynamics, timbre, texture, pitch, duration and tempo – and use these expressively in their own improvisations and compositions. At Wadhurst we are also following instrumental scheme lessons and all Upper Key Stage 2 pupils will develop their expertise in using a tuned instrument for a minimum of 2 terms as recommended in the Model Music Curriculum. The Kapow Primary Scheme follows the cyclical curriculum model where previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built upon.  Children progress in terms of tackling more complex tasks and doing more simple tasks as experts.  Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust music curriculum.  Kapow ensures each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD, aiding teachers in their own acquisition of musical skills and knowledge. 

If our children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes, tracking knowledge in pre- and post-learning challenges and in pupil discussions about their learning.  

• Be confident performers, composers and listeners and will be able to express themselves musically at and beyond school. 
• Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world and will understand how music is influenced by the wider cultural, social and historical contexts which it is developed. 
• Understand the ways in which music can be written down to support performing and composing activities. 
• Demonstrate and articulate an enthusiasm for music and be able to identify their own personal musical preferences. 
• Meet the end of Key stage expectations outlines in the national curriculum for Music. 

The impact of our Music curriculum is that our pupils are equipped with a range of musical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be able to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives. 

• Recorded  learning  
• Pupil Conferencing 
• Discussion tasks 
• Carefully designed lessons that provide opportunities for adults to continually assess for understanding of both musical knowledge and skills 
• Questioning and feedback given to assess for understanding against small steps 
• Ensemble performances throughout the curriculum and whole school opportunities