Music

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

‘Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.’ – Plato 

Intent 

Music is an essential part of a child’s life allowing freedom of expression and thought. Musical teaching at SHAPE International School aims to provide all students with a high-quality music education which engages and inspires them to develop a life-long love of music. As an MOD school within an international setting, we are in a unique position to be able to combine our commitment to teaching this subject alongside our school character virtues and learning powers. Our musical curriculum is designed to be inclusive and enjoyed by all children. It is creative and engaging allowing the children to develop their singing, listening, improvising and compositional skills as well as the confidence to perform in front of a wider audience.  

Our aim is for music to be an instrumental part of a child’s world. Using the 2014 National Curriculum and The New Model Music Curriculum we ensure the progressive development of knowledge and musical skills. We continue to promote musical competency so that our children have the confidence and skills to become proficient when playing and performing within the wider community. As pupils musical journey progresses, the children will have developed the skills and knowledge to be able to think more critically as musicians, as listeners and as creators of music. We are also committed to fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of all genres of music, learning about the lives and works of different composers throughout the centuries, thereby increasing a deeper historical understanding of famous musical composers and their work. 

The aims of teaching music in our school are: 

• To perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions 
• To learn to sing and to use our voices  
• To create and compose music on our own and with others 
• To have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence 
• To 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 

 Implementation 

At The British Section, SHAPE International School, we ensure high standards of teaching and learning in music through the implementation of a varied and progressive musical curriculum. Music is taught discreetly focussing upon the knowledge and skills set out in The National Curriculum which provides a broad framework for the requirements of each Key Stage. Miss Briers teaches lessons to Y2,Y3, Y4 and Y6, whilst Mrs Jackaman and Miss Hyde teach music to Y1 and Y5 respectively. A variety of resources are used to ensure a varied and rich curriculum. 

We focus upon a creative music curriculum ensuring that lessons include elements of singing, listening, improvising and composing. Pupils from Y4 to Y6 have the opportunity to learn to play the ukulele and to build upon their skills from year group to year group.  Our musical curriculum provides many opportunities to enhance the skills and learning of more able pupils by allowing those individuals the opportunity to showcase their talents and skills. We provide the opportunity for music performing both inside and outside of the classroom. The school choir regularly performs in the community at Christmas and at The British Summer Fete. Additionally, as a military school, we are in the unique position of being able to invite the visiting military bands into school to perform live music to enrich our pupils’ listening education. Alongside our curriculum provision, we offer musical clubs such as boomwhackers and choir. 

Impact 

Within music, we strive to create an enjoyable, supportive and collaborative ethos of learning by providing opportunities throughout the school year to perform in musical assemblies and concerts. Our musical curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. The focus is upon the continued development of knowledge and skills through the different units of work. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: 

• Opportunities to celebrate our musical skills through weekly singing assemblies 
• Performing within the community at religious festivals and community events 
• Capturing pupil voice about their learning 
• Publishing musical outcomes on ‘Seesaw.’ 
• Annual reporting of standards on school reports.