Music Curriculum Statement

At St Joseph’s, we never underestimate the importance of Music in our lives. Listening to and learning about Music benefits the children’s concentration skills, phonemic awareness, literacy development, memory and academic achievement.  It elevates children’s motivation levels and creates a positive learning environment.

We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community, and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to immerse themselves in music.

Children develop their love for music through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, tradition and musical genres. Through investigating genres of music and exploring a wide variety of instruments, children develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music and the cultures that produce them. 

The National Curriculum for Music aims to ensure that all pupils:

· 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.

· learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.

· understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

Planning and Resources

We use Charanga to plan and support the delivery of weekly music lessons. Sing Up is used in classrooms and assemblies to allow children to access a wide variety of songs across a range of styles and genres. Children in the EYFS use a mixture of Charanga and other resources within the environment to develop ‘hearing and listening’, ‘vocalising and singing’ and ‘movement and dancing’.

Singing has a large focus in assemblies every week. Daily assemblies include music and a weekly singing assembly allows children to learn and perform new songs together with the whole school.   Children join in Mass regularly by singing hymns and anthems.  Children take part in termly musical celebrations including Harvest festival, KS1 Nativity concert, KS2 Carol Concert and a year 6 leavers performance. Our musical calendar is based upon Christian and seasonal festivals and celebrations. 

Musical Opportunities

All children in year 4 learn to play the violin with a specialist music tutor from Suffolk County Music Service. Their weekly lessons help them understand how the instrument works and can be played, as well as developing technical skills, non-notations skills, reading and playing notation and ensemble performance skills. We celebrate their musical achievements with a performance to the school.

There are exciting opportunities for children to learn and enjoy music outside of class lessons. Children in KS2 can participate in our school choir. The choir often help teach, lead and perform songs in assemblies. They have taken part in performances at Snape Maltings, Sudbury library and local residential homes. 

We are very aware of the positive affects, music can have on emotional and mental wellbeing.  It can have a powerful impact of uniting children and developing their sense of self and belonging. Our aim is to develop each child as a whole and recognise music as one of the vital ingredients in this process.