Bowmansgreen Primary
School Music
Less is only more when you know what more is
-Jacob Collier, musician
Intent
Through Music at Bowmansgreen, we aim to encourage children to become creative learners, develop social skills, literacy and mathematical development, have an awareness of how things work and a greater knowledge of the world around them and how music has an impact on all these things. Through a connected curriculum running from EYFS all the way to Year 6 children develop their musical skills and confidence as a whole class. There is an emphasis on children leading their learning through selecting repertoire/musical styles/sources of inspiration to include as part of their lessons. Each year group have a particular focus on specific musical skills that can develop throughout the year and create a platform for more complex learning in future years. All of the work done through music is to help enhance confidence, independence and creativity.
Implementation
Pupils have a weekly music lesson which follows a scheme of work based on the national curriculum. We follow three strands of learning to develop each unit of work: performing, listening, and composing.
Work is based on a progression of skills between year groups, with flexibility to enable each class to develop at their own pace. There is a link between the work covered and song repertoire, which enhances learning and allows scope for creative development for that particular class. Individualised learning emerges from starting a topic, so that students are able to do what they’re comfortable with and can develop the work in a way that is unique and special to them.
Each year group has a vocabulary focus for each unit and this language gets more complex when a similar unit is revisited later in the school. This vocabulary is used in lessons frequently to allow for familiarisation for the pupils. We have many resources, including keyboards, trumpets, pitched and un-pitched percussion, violins, djembe drums and ocarinas. Additional equipment is provided for music lessons that include: a Theremin, a Skoog, Artiphon: Orba and sensory Footnotes.
Mr. Bronstein runs a school choir for KS2 and weekly music assemblies for KS1 and KS2. Students have the option to learn musical instruments; the students prepare performances for our Friday celebration assemblies, which allow the students to continue to be motivated and allow opportunities to prepare in advance of exams due to be taken.
In EYFS, fundamentals of music language, instrument knowledge, singing, mathematical skills, literacy and greater knowledge of the world are the main focus.
Various cross-curricular links are made throughout the year and a concerted effort will be made across the academic year to link with work done in class topics, annual national or world events and religious festivals. Support is given to the class staff when all children are preparing for a particular assembly, topic or event. During their time at Bowmansgreen, students across the school take part in: nativities, the Harvest Festival, Christingle, carol concerts and a Year 6 summer show. Students enjoy regular class ‘Drumba’ sessions, blending exercise with drumming. A select group of students have an opportunity to take part in the Alban Arena Festival and the St. Albans Christmas Carols Service and we have also recently begun a collaboration with St. Albans Symphony Orchestra, who visit the school to conduct workshops with the children.
Impact
Children will finish each year at school more confident musicians, who are able to be more creative, flexible in their thinking, communicative, sensitive, social, independent and focused in their work. The aim is that particular soft skills, such as: discipline, team-work, patience, resilience, creativity built up during music lessons permeate everything else the children do in school. Our students should be able to listen more critically to music and understand and appreciate features in the music that are prominent. We expect that children can take forward their skills to the next school year, ready to improve and develop them to a point where they could be ready to pursue learning a musical instrument or explore new musical genres themselves. Performing to audiences (whether that be in class or to a bigger audience) is a vital part of developing confidence and a sense of collaboration.
Overviews