At Hughenden Primary, we aim to provide a high-quality music education that provides all pupils with the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of musical opportunities. Pupils will leave school with an appreciation of how music is composed and performed. At Hughenden, we foster a love for music and encourage children to learn and share their musical talents throughout the year.
We know that music is a unique way of communicating that can inspire and motivate children. It is a vehicle for personal expression, and it can play an important part in the personal development of people. Music reflects the culture and society we live in, and so the teaching and learning of music enables children to better understand the world they live in. Besides being a creative and enjoyable activity, music can also be a highly academic and demanding subject. It also plays an important part in helping children feel part of a community. We provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music, to develop the skills, to appreciate a wide variety of musical forms, and to begin to make judgements about the quality of music.
Aims
At Hughenden the National Curriculum for music is suitably adapted and differentiated to meet the needs of all pupils and aims to allow pupils to have opportunities to;
perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of great musicians and composers
to compose and make music with others, have an opportunity to learn a musical instrument, and have an opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
understand musical notations and how music is constructed, produced and communicated through its inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.
Key Stage 1
At Key Stage 1 music is taught through the Music Express Scheme and cross curricular themes. Children develop their skills of listening, performing, composing and appraising through different topics.
Key Stage 2
In Key Stage 2 music is taught to whole class groups using in part the Music Express Scheme of work and the BBC Ten Pieces Project to develop their understanding of composers from Europe and Britain and the study of pieces of music in more depth. Listening is an important skill which is developed through KS2.
Year 3 and 4 children also have an opportunity to learn either the ukulele or recorder during their whole class music lessons. This is a fantastic opportunity and often leads to children taking up individual music lessons for that instrument or another.
All children also take part in a Key Stage singing assembly once a week where they learn songs related to the season or important festivals. This is also an opportunity for us the listen and appraise a range of music.
