Music

Intent – What do we want children to learn?

We want every pupil, whatever their needs, to develop a love of music that inspires them to learn and enjoy it both in school and at home. Our aim is to give all pupils a broad and exciting music curriculum that encourages them to keep exploring music. Through listening to a range of music, singing together, and learning instruments, pupils will build their skills, confidence, and enjoyment in music.

Through Music, we aim to support this philosophy by:

• Use their voices expressively through singing, chants, and rhymes.

• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically.

• Listen carefully to a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music from different traditions and great composers.

• Experiment with sounds, creating and combining them using the elements of music.

• Understand and develop skills in musical composition.

• Organise musical ideas and reproduce sounds from memory.

• Perform solo and in groups, using voices and instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control, and expression.

• Improvise and compose music for different purposes using the elements of music.

• Listen attentively and recall sounds with growing aural memory.

• Learn to use and understand staff notation and other forms of musical notation.

At Birchwood, children learn best when lessons build on each other. Our Music Progression of Skills documents show how pupils develop and apply their musical knowledge and skills from Year 1 to Year 6.

Implementation – How are we going to achieve our intent?

At Birchwood, we follow the Kapow Primary Music scheme from Reception to Year 6. This ensures children experience a broad and exciting music curriculum, covering listening, singing, playing, improvising, composing, and performing. Lessons are sequenced so skills and knowledge are revisited and built upon each year, helping pupils grow in confidence, creativity, and enjoyment of music.

Children in Key Stage 1 and 2 can access peripatetic lessons led by Band Academy, with opportunities to learn piano, guitar, ukulele, or take vocal lessons. They also have the chance to play in a band and learn instruments such as drums, keyboard, guitar, or to sing. We have employed Suffolk County Music Service to support and enhance our music offer. Suffolk County Music Service teaches instruments to the whole class. In Year 4 the children are learning the clarinet altogether.

Music through Birchwood’s curriculum offers opportunities to:

• At Birchwood, our pupils will:

• Perform, listen to, and evaluate music from a wide range of periods, genres, and traditions, including works by great composers.

• Learn to sing, use their voices, and create and compose music individually and in groups.

• Play instruments, use technology appropriately, and have opportunities to progress in their musical skills.

• Understand how music is created and communicated through elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure, and notation.

• Develop performance skills through concerts, assemblies, festivals, workshops, and school productions.

Impact – What will it look like when we have achieved our intent?

There are many ways to show the positive impact of our curriculum. Here are a few examples:

• Our annual Harvest concert at St Michael’s Church is a joyful celebration, with Reception and Key Stage 1 performing action songs and Key Stage 2 sharing beautiful singing and poetry.
• Our pupils shine in performances at Snape Maltings, sharing their singing, music, and poetry with pride.
• Our Year 5 and 6 pupils have taken part in Sing Up! Suffolk at the Royal Hospital School for the last few years— an inspiring, high-energy day of singing and vocal exploration led by renowned choral leader Dominic Ellis-Peckham. The workshops focused on inclusive singing, teamwork, and the joy of music-making, helping pupils to grow in confidence while having fun. Children left the event with new skills, happy memories, and a lasting love of singing.

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