MUSIC:        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.

“Without music, life would be a mistake”, Friedrich Nietzsche

Vision

At Freshfield, we understand that music is a universal language with creativity at its core. Our high-quality music curriculum aims to engage and inspire pupils to develop both a love of music and their skills as musicians. We provide children with a range of opportunities to cultivate their cultural understanding and develop their musical competencies, such as appreciating and understanding a wide range of music from different traditions. As our children progress through our curriculum, we also teach them to engage critically with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians. By the time our children leave Freshfield, they have been equipped with this knowledge and understanding as well as having an appreciation of a breadth of musical forms. We know that by providing regular opportunities to actively engage with music we can increase our children’s self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. There is a clear link between music and wellbeing and we value the power sharing music can have on our mood and our feelings

As children 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.

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge in Music

Substantive knowledge in music is based on the developing knowledge of the nine interrelated dimensions of music.  All music learning is built around the interrelated dimensions of music.

Substantive knowledge focuses on developing children’s skills and knowledge required for them to develop as musicians.  This is achieved through deliberate practice and allows children to develop and demonstrate fluency of knowledge.  It involves learning about music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.

Disciplinary knowledge in music is the interpretation of the interrelated dimensions of music and how this knowledge is used when singing, playing instruments, improvising and composing, to develop creative and original pieces and performances.  Children work independently and collaboratively to interpret and combine

the dimensions of music to create a specific and desired effect.

How we plan for and teach music

Across the school, we follow the Sing Up music scheme. The Sing Up scheme provides our music teacher with week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the  school. It provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and high-quality resources to support every lesson. The units for each year group have been carefully mapped out across the year to ensure maximum coverage of the Model Music Curriculum statements and to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum for music. Children throughout the school have a weekly music lesson taught discretely by the music teacher. Lessons form part of structured units with a musical focus, with opportunities to perform and showcase their learning throughout the year.  As part of the KS2 curriculum we offer whole class ensemble tuition (previously known as Wider Opportunities) for Year 4, providing children with the opportunity to learn to play an instrument under the tuition of a visiting music teacher from Sefton’s Sky Music Hub. 

At our school we are committed to providing a range of musical experiences for our pupils, alongside the music curriculum. As part of our extra-curricular offer we  have an Infant and Junior Choir, Ukulele club, private guitar and woodwind lessons and have strong links with Formby High School’s Music Department. We also  have a range of musical experiences for our children both in and out of school, including the Pearl of Africa children’s choir and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic trip and unit of learning for Year five. 

How we evaluate learning in Music - Assessment

Assessment in music is a process of continuous assessment for learning through monitoring the individual’s progress against the year specific expectations within a  unit of music. Digital evidence of children’s final performances at the end of units is taken to support teacher observations and assessments of children’s progress and to enable the music teacher to identify children who may need support going forward. In addition, Key Stage one and two children also undertake a termly Progression Snapshot activity whereby a song is introduced and revisited at different points during the school year. Progression snapshots are built into the units of work with a clear sequence of progress in musical skills and are recorded to enable the music teacher to monitor the children’s progress throughout the year. Progression Snapshot videos are also played back to the children, enabling them to assess their own learning to fine tune their musical skills and make improvements in their performance.

Please click here for more detailed information about Music learning in each year group.