At Wigton Moor everyone learns, everyone achieves and everyone matters! We recognise that a high quality music education matters and can increase self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Our diverse community bring a diverse range of music experience and knowledge which we see across the school. Our curriculum ensure children of all ages and abilities sing, perform, compose and listen to a range of music using a range of instruments. We all perform in productions. We all sing in assemblies. We all learn to play instruments and we aim to foster a life-long love and interest in Music.
Our no ceiling approach to differentiation means all pupils, the least able, pupils with SEND and the most able, 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. Our base line is always what is set out in the national curriculum and more recently the guidance through the Model Music Curriculum released in March 2021.
We use several schemes to support our teaching of music which means specialists and non-specialists can teach with confidence and quality. Vocabulary and language is at the heart of much of what we do. The Charanga scheme, BBC teach and the 10 Pieces work and the local authority all add to a rich and important planned curriculum. Not only that, in whole school assemblies we listen to a wide variety of music and talk about genres, instruments, composition and history. In singing assemblies we learn to sing and to use our voices. These skills are put into practise in whole year group performances spread across the year. We provide opportunities for pupils to create and compose music on their own and with others. This can be done using recorders in KS1, glockenspiel and xylophones in lower KS2 or Ukuleles in upper Ks2. On top of this all pupils have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument with the support of our peripatetic music teachers.
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.