How do we assess the impact of our Music curriculum?

Whilst in school, children have access to a varied programme, which allows students to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a student may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, independence, resilience, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. The Music curriculum at St Margaret’s also enables children to develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music, in as many ways as they choose- either as listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse. They have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop an interest in their lives. 

Children will:

• enjoy and appreciate a wide variety of musical styles;
• explore how sounds are made, and how music is produced by a variety of instruments;
• develop imagination and creativity;
• build a sense of pulse and rhythm;
• understand a range of musical vocabulary;
• develop the interrelated skills of composition, improvisation, performance and appreciation;
• enjoy a wide range of songs and sing in tune;
• develop positive attitudes and to experience success and satisfaction in music.

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. 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. As pupils 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.

Pupils will be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. 

Pupils will be taught to:

• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• use and understand staff and other musical notations
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
• develop an understanding of the history of music.