Music Curriculum Statement
Intent
Our intent is to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that allows them to develop as confident responsible citizens equipped with the skills that will allow them to be successful in our ever-changing world, both in the present and the future.
We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities (memorable experiences) to engage learners and develop their cultural capital which has been recognised as essential if children are to succeed.
We believe that our children should not only reach their best academically, but also develop a thirst for knowledge, foster a love of learning and leave our school with exceptional independent learning skills.
We are fully committed to developing each child's unique potential within a secure and caring environment.
We use our Captain Webb Values to promote positive attitudes to learning:
Listen
Encourage
Achieve
Respect
Nurture
Music and singing are integral to the life of a Captain Webb child. We provide a vibrant musical experience for all children with fun and enjoyment at its heart. Our objective at Captain Webb is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community, and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music in a variety of different contexts. We provide opportunities for all children to compose, play, perform and enjoy music. Through our music curriculum pupils will gain self-confidence and a sense of achievement. Children will develop their capacity to express ideas and feelings through the medium of sound. Extra-curricular clubs such as our school choir, musical theatre club and instrumental lessons enhance our curriculum offer.
Implementation
Music is firmly embedded into everyday life at Captain Webb. We deliver a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum. Music is taught for one hour weekly. Music lessons in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are taught by a specialist teacher from Telford and Wrekin Music. EYFS have music sessions delivered by Music Minors. Utilising specialist teachers ensures knowledge and skills are progressive from the age of 2 to the age of 11 as well as giving our children the opportunity to experience learning instruments from experienced tutors. This also ensures that children receive high quality music provision and that teachers receive valuable, regular CPD. Charanga is also used to support key concepts and includes many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre. In doing so children gain an understanding into different methods of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn to compose focussing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when playing or appraising music.
Weekly music lessons are just the start here at Captain Webb. Singing and music underpin everything that we do which is evidenced in our Gold Award from Artsmark. One of our popular extra-curricular clubs is our Key Stage 2 Young Voices Group where we make community links and sing at our local Dawley Christmas Light Switch On. We also perform in homes for the elderly which both the children and adults thoroughly enjoy. Our extra-curricular clubs and ‘Music of the Month’ enhance our cultural capital and children hear music from Beethoven right through to Ed Sheeran. Singing is also embedded in our weekly singing assemblies and we are proud to say we are a Sing Up school that supports children in finding their voices.
Telford and Wrekin Music also deliver high quality small group and 1:1 tutoring sessions for Pupil Premium children in keyboard and guitar weekly.
There is plenty of opportunity for children to sing and play instruments as part of our Captain Webb’s Got Talent showcase every summer. Children at Captain Webb regularly experience live music in the form of theatre shows and live bands. Live performances add to the music offer all children receive and provide opportunities for Pupil Premium children that they might not otherwise experience.
Impact
All children will benefit from a high-quality music education which engages and inspires them to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. It will increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they will develop a growing musical vocabulary that allows them to critically engage with music. Teaching and learning of music is a reflective process for the children as they are given the opportunities to assess themselves and their peers. The children also celebrate their success and skills with their peers and wider audiences. Assessment is used to help teachers to help children. We assess through ongoing teacher questioning and observation. Video evidence which captures each child’s progress throughout the year is taken 3 times per year so time isn’t taken away from children’s learning. Children also complete a termly vocabulary check assessment against the musical elements. All assessment is used to ensure children are progressing appropriately and where they are not adjustments are made to our curriculum to ensure these gaps are plugged before moving on. We utilise pupil voice regularly as a means of engaging children in their own learning and what they would like to see in their Captain Webb music journey. As part of our music provision, we achieved an Excellence in Music Provision Award from The Music Partnership and our Year 3 pupils received a Distinction in Music Performance from the University of West London.
Music of the Month
September – Elton John
October – Whitney Houston
November – Mozart
December – Hans Zimmer
January – Bob Marley
February – Florence Prince
March – Beethoven
April – Zoe Keating
May – Carole King
June – Tchaikovsky
July - Coldplay