Be inspired. Be creative. Be dynamic.

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.

Implementation

At St Aelred’s Catholic Primary School, our music curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and we ensure progression throughout the school by following the Model Music Curriculum published by the DfE in March 2021. The school subscribes to Sing Up – an online music scheme and resource bank – that has been written to support the delivery of the music curriculum, in line with the latest guidance from the DFE. The scheme provides a variety of quality resources for each year group, both traditional and modern, in order to inspire our pupils and facilitate quality music teaching by both specialists and non-specialists alike.

Instrumental Tuition
At St Aelred’s, our Y4 pupils take part in ukulele lessons for one term to a standard where they are able to accompany simple 2 and 3 – chord songs. We also offer the following activities as extra-curricular clubs for an hour a week at the end of the school day: Junior Choir all year round, Samba drumming during the summer term, tuned percussion during the autumn term. Individual and group instrumental lessons are also available to pupils; these include Rock Steady lessons, piano lessons and woodwind and brass lessons, according to demand.

Impact
By the time they leave primary school, we aim to develop pupils who:
• Have a lifelong love of music in all its forms
• Sing confidently a wide range of songs (including 2 and 3-part rounds) in tune and in time, showing an ability to hold a part to the end.
• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency,
control and expression
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• use and understand staff and other musical notations
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers
and musicians
• are beginning to develop an understanding of the history of music.