Intent

At Wigton Moor everyone learns, everyone achieves and everyone matters!  We recognise that a high quality music education matters because it can increase self-confidence, boost creativity and give pupils a sense of achievement.  Our curriculum ensures that all our pupils sing, perform, compose and listen to a range of musical styles and genres.   Through our music lessons, we aim to foster a life-long love of music.

Implementation

To help us meet the requirements of the National Curriculum for Music, we do a number of things.  Firstly, we use the Charanga Musical School scheme for most lessons in KS1 and for some lessons in KS2.  This provides pupils with the opportunity to listen to and appraise different genres of music, to learn about the dimensions of music including music notation, to sing a variety of songs, to perform on glockenspiels and untuned percussion and to improvise and compose.  In KS2 pupils also listen to and appraise examples of classical music from different periods in history using resources from the Charanga Freestyle Listening Centre.  Secondly, all year groups from Year 1 to Year 6 have half a term’s teaching from an Artsforms specialist music teacher with a focus on composing.  Thirdly, we are very proud that as part of our no ceiling approach to differentiation, all pupils from Year 2 to Year 4 have weekly recorder lessons for one term, and all pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 have weekly ukulele lessons for a term.  These lessons are a further opportunity to teach pupils music notation.  Finally, there is a weekly singing assembly for both key stages using material from the Sing Up website.  In addition to this, every year group performs a play to parents at some point in the year which always include several songs.

Impact

We know that children learn more and remember more because our curriculum revisits many key aspects and we see the impact of teaching in the knowledge and skills pupils demonstrate.  Our consistent use of assessment for learning and assessment quadrants means that teachers are always looking to adapt and improve where possible.

Curriculum Documents

National Plan for Music Education

In June 2022, the government published 'The power of music to change lives: A National Plan for Music Education' with the ambition to level up musical opportunities for all children, regardless of circumstance, needs or geography and to ensure all children receive a high quality musical education..  In response, we have produced a Music Development Plan for implementation from September 2023.

Music at Wigton Moor Primary School 

Choir

Our new choir starts on Monday 6th November.  We will be meeting in the spare classroom.  It starts straight after school and finishes at 4:30.

Singing assemblies

Each week, everyone takes part in singing assembly either in the school hall or in their classroom.  Most of the songs we learn are from the Sing Up website.  The main aim of the assemblies is to foster an enthusiasm for and a love of singing.  We always start with a warm up to get our voices ready to sing and we try to breathe correctly, open our mouths and articulate the words clearly.  In KS2, pupils sing different genres of songs including spirituals, songs from Africa and sea shanties.  See below for a video of a KS2 singing assembly. 

Composing

We are very lucky to have Mrs Cossavella, a specialist music teacher from Artsforms, coming in once a week.  Every class from Year 1 to Year 6 has half a term's music lessons with Mrs Cossavella during the course of the year with a focus on composition.

Year 6

Below are some photos showing pupils in Year 6 working in groups to compose a short piece of music on the theme of Beowulf.  The videos show some of them performing their compositions.  

Year 2

Year 2 have composed ostinato rhythms and played them on percussion instruments.

Year 3

Year 3 made a composition in response to a piece of music creating the atmosphere of a cave.

Performing

An important part of the music curriculum is performing both individually and as part of an ensemble.  Below is a video of the children who learn woodwind instruments performing to KS2.

Year 3 recorders January 2023

In Term 1 Year 3 had weekly recorder lessons.  Some of the children then volunteered to perform to the rest of school in assembly.  They practised at home and once a week in school at lunch time.  

Live music performance

KS2 had a fantastic afternoon on 23rd May with Backchat Brass.  

Year 3 music lesson January 2023

Year 3 have been listening to the reggae music, Three Little Birds, by Bob Marley.  They have then played accompaniments to the music on both the glockenspiel and the recorder.

Year 2 music

Year 2 have started learning the recorder.

Reception

Playing percussion instruments in Reception.

Instrumental lessons

Peripatetic teachers from Leeds Artsforms teach trumpet, clarinet, flute, violin, keyboard and guitar to small groups in school.