Music

What is our vision for Music?

At The Growth Learning Collective, our music curriculum embodies the aims of the National Curriculum. Ensuring that all children:

• Sing, play, and perform with increasing accuracy, fluency, and expression
• Create and compose music using a wide range of techniques and technologies
• To listen with curiosity and understanding to music from different cultures, eras, and traditions
• Understands how music works, including pitch, rhythm, notation, structure, and the interrelated dimensions of music

Music at our school is built on a simple belief: every child is a musician.  Music inspires children to express themselves, work collaboratively, increase memory and wellbeing and develop confidence.  Our curriculum is designed so that each new musical idea builds on children’s existing knowledge and through shared repertoire, purposeful listening, and progressive instrumental learning, children experience music as something joyful, accessible and meaningful.

What do music lessons look like in our school and how do we plan lessons?

Our curriculum is carefully sequenced so that children revisit and embed key musical learning before building on it. Skills and concepts are introduced in small, achievable steps, with each year group developing increasing fluency, control and understanding. For example, children learn pulse and pitch through singing and games in Key Stage 1 before applying these skills to tuned percussion in Year 2, melodicas in Year 3 and ukuleles in Year 4 and music production in 5.  By Year 6, pupils are confident ensemble musicians who can read simple notation, improvise, compose and perform with expression.

What can you do to help your child at home?

Helping your child with Music at home is all about enjoying music together and encouraging curiosity.

Try noticing and talking about the music around you: “Can you hear the beat in this song? I wonder what instruments we can hear. How does this music make you feel?

You might:

• Listen to a variety of music together and talk about what you notice

• Encourage your child to sing songs from school or favourites they enjoy

• Clap or tap a steady pulse along to music

• Explore different genres—classical, pop, jazz, world music, film music

• Let children experiment with sounds using household objects

• Celebrate any performances, whether at school or at home

You don’t need to know the answers - just modelling curiosity, listening and enjoyment helps your child develop the thinking skills and confidence that musicians use every day.

Please click here to see the Music Strategy plan.