Music
St Ambrose RC Primary School - Music Curriculum Intent
“I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, My God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.” (Psalm 71:22)
At St Ambrose, we reflect the National Curriculum aims:
- Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity.
- High-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, increasing their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
- Pupils should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and listen with enjoyment and discrimination to a wide variety of music from many different cultures and traditions.
- Music has been a key part of developing people’s spiritual and social lives throughout the ages.
- We introduce children to music drawn from a wide range of cultures and traditions, looking at how it has been influenced by and enhanced the personal situations of the people who wrote it.
- We use music to enhance our own prayer and worship time.
In this subject:
At St Ambrose, our intention is that children understand what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, traditions, and musical genres. Our objective is to develop a curiosity for the subject and understand and accept the importance of all types of music – especially as a form of prayer and worship to support our school’s Catholic ethos.
It is imperative that children enjoy music and begin to learn and appreciate the beauty and necessity of music in their lives. We are committed to ensuring that the children understand the importance of music as a valuable tool across the curriculum and throughout other subjects, including drama, history, guided reading, RE and English. This ensures the children value music and can use their musical skills, knowledge and experiences in various contexts.
As they progress, we expect the children to explore more extended pieces of music, understanding how music can represent feelings and emotions. We teach the children how to work with others to compose music and perform for an audience.
In God's family, we grow and learn in love, hope and faith.
Why is Music important?
Music has been proven to help children's well-being and focus their concentration. A school that celebrates its pupils' musical achievements is more likely to have confident, happier children. Listening to and performing a wide range of music also enables pupils to explore different cultures aside from their own, broadening their understanding and contributing to a deeper understanding of the world around them. This is vital in a school like St Ambrose that aims for each child to be an advocate for change in the world.
At St. Ambrose, we use various schemes to ensure your child is taught the skills in the National Curriculum (available in the files). The National Curriculum splits music skills into three strands; listening and appraising, composing and performing. We aim for every child to be exposed to all three strands in every lesson.
We use One Education Music which provides a specialist teacher once a week to provide curriculum music. We use charanga, music in the classroom, BBC music and many others to ensure the children receive a broad, balanced and connected curriculum. Please see the files below for the skills and knowledge your child will be taught in each year group.