Music is universal, cultural, and individual. Garden Fields believes that every pupil should have the opportunity to receive a high-quality musical training in school, regardless of attainment, or background. The aim of music education is to help pupils to achieve a personal level of understanding, appreciation, and passion for music and to encourage children to be creative, caring, and enthusiastic members of our school community. In line with the National Curriculum, we provide a range of opportunities for children to perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians and composing their own pieces. Music and the voice are an integral part of the human experience.

Aims and Objectives:

At Garden Fields we want to give children the opportunity to:

• develop an understanding and appreciation of the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.
• foster pupils’ sensitivity to, and their understanding and enjoyment of music through an active involvement in listening, composing and performing.
• provide for the expression and development of individual skills and for sharing experience and cooperating with others; singing, playing, composing and listening can give individual and collective satisfaction.
• develop an awareness of musical traditions and developments in a variety of cultures and societies and the impacts of these traditions on popular music genres today.
• the capacity to express ideas, thoughts and feelings through music.
• provide the opportunity to experience a feeling of fulfilment which derives from striving for the highest possible artistic and technical standard.

At Garden Fields, we endeavour to make music an enjoyable learning experience.  We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences which we aim to build up the confidence of all children and build upon prior learning.

Early Years Foundation Stage

Music is embedded within the ‘creative development’ area of the EYFS profile.

Teachers ensure that children begin to explore sounds, sing simple songs and respond to music from different cultures, while enhancing the development of the other EYFS areas.  The EYFS teachers devise and deliver their own medium term plans.

KS1

Our Music Specialist has written bespoke curriculum schemes of work.  Where possible these link in with cross-curricular topic planning in line with Curriculum Maestro.

The skills and knowledge taught within music lessons are in compliance with the teaching requirements within the National Curriculum and follow a clear progression from EYFS and onto KS2.

KS2

Our Music Specialists use a mix of bespoke schemes of work, some of which use resources from Charanga, BBC Music and Musical Futures.  Where possible these musical foci link with the Curriculum Maestro topics.  In addition, our ethos for every child to learn a musical instrument also means that from year 3 to yr 5 some of the curriculum is dedicated to learning an instrument and every child has the opportunity to learn: the recorder, the violin and the ukulele.

Organisation of the Curriculum:

The progression of Musical Skills document has been divided to show the progression of the the 7 musical elements whilst being given opportunities to aurally identify, describe, perform, improvise and compose each topic.  The Skills Document ensures that coverage across the year groups can be achieved and prevent gaps in learning.

The activities of performing, composing and appraising are interwoven into lessons so that learning derived from each area serves to reinforce learning in the others.  Planning should ensure that there is sufficient opportunity for children to participate in active music making, covering western and non-western cultures.

During periods when EYFS, KS1 and KS2 productions are being prepared, music teaching will be adapted to assist with the delivery of learning songs for performance.  Ongoing skills will continue to be taught through these practises.

“Music is a World within itself,  with a Language we all understand.” Stevie Wonder

At Garden Fields the opportunity to be proud of the work that pupils create in music is paramount.  By giving the children the tools to create and appraise music we are giving them the necessary platform to develop a love of music which will hopefully continue through their time and secondary school and beyond. 

Assessment and Recording

Assessment will form an integral part of the teaching and learning of music. Assessment will be formed through informal observations, a range of questioning techniques and examination of work produced. This assessment is communicated formally to parents in the annual reports.  Examples of pupils’ work are recorded in a variety of ways e.g. on paper, voice recorders and on video.

Formal assessment is made termly on target tracker.

Pupil Voice

A pupil voice is carried out each academic year.  This gives staff the opportunity to listen to the wants and needs of the children and to inform and assess areas of the curriculum or the opportunities on offer.

Equal Opportunities

All pupils have access to the music curriculum and are supported and encouraged to achieve their full potential within the subject.  The music curriculum is delivered in accordance with the school’s Equal Opportunities Policy. A balance of songs from countries around the world, genres and times are shared with pupils.

Health and Safety

We aim to carry out the teaching of music in accordance with the school’s Health and Safety Policy.  To ensure the health and safety of our pupils, we will make sure the following procedures take place:

• Blown instruments are sterilised after every use
• No moving of heavy instruments/boxes of instruments by pupils
• Instruments to be checked regularly to ensure good quality including electronic cables.
• All splintered or rusty instruments will be thrown away immediately.

Resources

The EYFS team share a class box of un-tuned percussion instruments.

KS1 & KS2 have access to a range of instruments that are located throughout the school  These instruments include:

• Glockenspiels
• Drums
• Ukuleles
• Keyboards
• Recorders
• Violins – on loan from County
• A wide range of tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments
• Multi-cultural instruments

 Children are to be taught how to use and care for all of these instruments and how to check the instruments before returning them.  The music co-ordinator will be informed of any problems so instruments can be replaced or repaired.   Songbooks and other paper based teaching resources are stored within the cupboards in the yr3 corridor music room. 

Information Communication Technology

Teachers are encouraged to use ICT wherever possible in their music lessons, as defined in the National Curriculum guidance.  In music ICT is regularly used for recording, aiding composition with online tools, exploring musical approaches using apps such as garageband.

Extra-Curricular:

We encourage children to participate in extra curricular musical activities by offering the following activities:

1. KS1 choir is open to children in Yr 1 and 2.
2. KS2 choir is open to children in Yr 3 to 6.
3. Orchestra is open to pupils in Yr3-6.

We aim to give children the opportunity to perform at fairs, concerts, assemblies and venues within the community.

Visiting peripatetic teachers from Hertfordshire Music Service offer tuition for pupils in school time for both strings and woodwind instruments.

There is currently a waiting list for other instruments.

Children are encouraged to participate in various performances both in and out of school.  This provides the school with opportunities to develop relationships with parents, other schools and the community.  These opportunities vary each year and will reinforce to the children that music should be shared and seen as an exciting way of communicating and expressing feelings.

Hertfordshire Music Service – Progress in Musical Skills, Knowledge and Understanding from EYFS to KS2

Miss Wray is our Music Subject Coordinator.
Mrs Lawrence is our KS1 Music teacher and Miss Hayden is our KS2 Music teacher.