"Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music"

- George Eliot

Intent

We believe music is a wonderfully creative, important subject allowing children to express themselves. We want our children to love music and be inspired to achieve well in listening, composing and performing. We believe that excellent sustained partnerships with professional musicians can complement and enhance our provision. Music will make an outstanding contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of the children as our curriculum focuses on a range of musical styles, traditions and cultures. We encourage our children to participate in high-quality extra-curricular activities with a music focus. It is our intent that music will enrich students’ lives and education as many of the skills are transferable across the curriculum. We intend to develop language and reasoning skills through music in addition to improving the skill of memorisation. In order to provide a range of opportunities for our children as successful learners with high expectations our Music curriculum is linked to our whole school drivers: Gospel Values, Cultural Capital, Diversity, Independence and High Expectations. As a joint denominational school, Christian values are at the forefront of daily school life at Emmaus. The values of ‘Hope’, ‘Trust’, ‘Friendship’ and ‘Love’ are actively promoted throughout our Music curriculum. They are encouraged to show respect for different people’s faiths, experiences, feelings and principles. At Emmaus, we believe that a rich and broad curriculum builds cultural capital and we thus provide our children with a vast range of experiences and opportunities to help them progress and achieve success. Our children are offered a range of experiences that build their cultural capital both within and beyond our Music curriculum. At Emmaus, we understand the importance of developing a curriculum that is diverse, allowing the children to expand their knowledge and understanding of many different identities in a manner appropriate to the subject matter being taught. All resources/materials have been reviewed with equal opportunities in mind. Pupils will be encouraged to value social and cultural diversity through musical experiences. They will listen to, and participate in, a variety of experiences in a positive and constructive role. Our Music curriculum heavily promotes independent learning. The children are encouraged to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. In line with all areas of our school curriculum, we have high expectations for all children to achieve their potential in Music - regardless of their starting points. The Music curriculum and assessment system at Emmaus is developed to ensure that we motivate pupils, monitor progress and achieve consistently high standards. There are high expectations for children to use appropriate vocabulary to articulate their findings.

Implementation

Pupils at Emmaus participate in weekly music lessons of an hour long during one half term per term which equates to 18 hours of music coverage per year. Our school uses the Charanga Scheme which is ideal for specialist and non-specialist teachers and provides lesson plans, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson. All requirements of the National Curriculum are covered. We provide opportunities for children to learn through a practical, exploratory and child-led approach. The interrelated dimensions of music weave through the units to encourage the development of musical skills as the learning progresses through listening and appraising, differing musical activities (including creating and exploring) and performing.  We provide opportunities for all children to engage in extra-curricular activities and concerts/events. Children from years 3-6 have the opportunity to learn to play an instrument from the woodwind, brass or string family.

Impact

Our curriculum aims to be fun and enable the children to express themselves through one of the highest forms of creativity using a universal language. Pupils will be engaged and inspired to develop a love of music, both in lessons and in extra curricular clubs.  The impact of music lessons is that children will be able to perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of great composers and musicians. The curriculum will enable the children to learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence. The impact of the music lessons will also be that children can understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations. The impact of music lessons can be evidenced in teachers’ assessments. Overall, Emmaus pupils will have had the opportunity to develop their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.