Music

Intent

At Warton, we aim for music lessons to be fun and engaging for all, we encourage all pupils, from when they start in nursery, to acquire an interest and passion for music which inspires them to continue to develop their musicality once they leave at the end of year 6.  

Music is a part of our lives every day, it is all around us, so at Warton we teach all pupils to attentively listen and appraise various genres and styles of music. We believe that being exposed to different styles and ages of music, pupils will gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of other eras and cultures. As well as teaching a variety of musical activities, including singing, rapping, learning instruments and composing, all pupils are given the opportunity to perform their skills within the classroom and to the school community.  

At Warton, we provide additional opportunities for pupils to showcase their talents to the school and invite parents to watch. Nursery pupils perform songs in Autumn 2 and Summer 2. Reception and KS1 perform a nativity play in Autumn 2. KS2 pupils perform a production in Summer 2. During KS2 pupils have multiple terms which they have professional whole-class recorder lessons, at the end of their learning they showcase a selection of songs to the school and their parents. All pupils from Reception to Year 6 will have opportunities to recite poems to parents during poetry and pastries and sing songs, recite poems or say prayers at church.  

At Warton, Music lesson are taught using The Charanga Musical School Scheme which provides units of work that have a progressive structure, opportunities to revisit, practice and develop skills, learn musical vocabulary, assessment opportunities and engaging and exciting resources. The Scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum and follows the ‘English Model Music Scheme’ from Charanga in line with the curriculum guidance from the DFE in 2021.

In line with the curriculum for music and guidance from Ofsted, this Scheme moves away from the previous levels and learning objective/outcome concepts to an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to musical learning. 

Ofsted have stated that “We will not always know the learning outcomes” so segregated learning objectives at the start of each lesson are not appropriate. Instead the interrelated dimensions of music weave through the units to encourage the development of musical skills as the learning progresses through listening and appraising, differing musical activities (including creating and exploring) and performing. 

Charanga is organised by units of work, each unit enables pupils to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills.