Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
National Curriculum Music (2014)
 

We have been extremely lucky to begin the Charanga Musical School scheme at Kensworth. Very kindly supported by our PTA in the purchase of instruments, the children are able to take part in fun, interactive and focused music lessons. 

Through the Musical School programme the children develop their understanding, make musical judgements, apply their new learning, develop their aural memory, express themselves physically, emotionally and through discussion and create their own musical ideas.
The activities and games cover the musical dimensions, (formerly elements – pulse, rhythm, pitch etc) through singing and playing instruments, listening and creating music – all intrinsically linked through a central song or piece.
They don't just learn about the music but are able to use their new skills to perform their chosen piece.

There are lots of different song choices for each year group as well as theme based songs for the children to learn in topic lessons - listen out for those at home and in our class assemblies!
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The publication of the Model Music Curriculum (MMC) guidance is a positive step in raising the profile of music education in this country.  Charanga is totally aligned to the National Curriculum for Music. When using the Charanga Scheme and its progressive week-by-week lessons, we are guaranteed to be meeting all the statutory requirements of it in full – both now and in the future.

 

Intent
Music is a highly valued subject and has equal status with all other Foundation Subjects.
Our intent with our Music curriculum is to give all children practical experiences so that they can enjoy all aspects of Music. Music is used to enhance learning in other curriculum areas, eg. times table raps/songs to embed knowledge; French songs to increase cultural awareness and develop vocabulary, etc.
We believe Music is an important part of our wider curriculum that gives children opportunities to express themselves in a less academic way than, for example, the basic skills of Reading, Writing and Maths.

Implementation
Our school curriculum is built upon the National Curriculum and our chosen scheme is Charanga. This was selected because it provides a clear progression of all the skills and knowledge that we are required to teach. Music is timetabled on a weekly basis, in addition to whole school/ class singing (collective worship, productions, etc.)
Many of our staff are non-specialist and it enables them to access the subject knowledge needed to be highly effective in their teaching of Music. We give the children wider opportunities to perform to a larger audience such as nativity production, harvest and easter service and end of year production.

We are confident that the design of Charanga provides clear progression in all four strands of Music. This progression enables formative assessment to further develop teaching and learning in Music. Charanga also gives clear indications of how to differentiate in lessons to challenge the more able. We endeavour to ensure that Music is not seen as a stand-alone subject but is incorporated into many other areas of our curriculum.

 

In addition to the Charanga Scheme we also buy into Whole Class Inspiring Music tuition for our year 5 and 6 pupils. These pupils learn to play the Ukelele over a 10 session block delivered by a trained professional. Our year 3 and 4 pupils play the P Buzz and the Recorder also delivered by a trained professional.  

 

In addition to our curriculum offer Miss Hardy also offers group lessons on keyboard, violin, ukulele and recorder (which can also progress onto learning the flute and alto saxophone) on Wedenesday afternoons. 

 

Miss Hardy has been teaching music for over 20 years and, since then, has taught pupils of all ages up to and beyond Grade 8, which is the highest grade in the Associated Board of Music. 

 

Children will have the opportunity to learn all about the different elements of music, including; musical notation, tonality, rhythm, volume, structure, melody, instrumentation, texture, tempo, timbre and harmony. Parents are notified of this extra-curricular offer by the school office. 

Impact
The impact of our Music curriculum is that when children leave Kensworth CE Academy, they will have a love of music and increased levels of self-confidence. They will be inspired by different genres of music, analyse music and compose a variety of music.