Music at St Mary & St Margaret's Primary School

Our School Values set the ethos in which our teaching in Music is grounded:

We believe that St Mary and St Margaret’s CE Primary School exists to enable every child to realise his or her potential to the fullest possible extent, whatever his or her particular needs and abilities. We aim to help all children to be the best they can be by ‘living life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10).

To this end, we promote our agreed School Values:

• Growing as a child of God
• Loving learning
• Caring
• Achieving
• Personal development

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.

At St Mary & St Margaret’s Primary School we make music a really enjoyable learning experience and aim to deliver high quality teaching, supporting and encouraging all children to achieve their full potential. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Singing lies at the heart of good music teaching and all children have lots of opportunities to sing in school. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music in whole school and class settings. 

At our school we believe that Music is a unique form of communication and is an integral part of our culture. It provides a platform to help children understand themselves and relate to others and the wider world. As children go through school from Year 1 onwards they have the opportunity to be taught by music specialist teachers from Solihull Music Service.

        Aims of Music at St Mary & St Margaret’s Primary

• To enjoy listening to a wide range of music from different times and cultures.
• To enjoy making music based on different times and cultures.
• To perform with confidence and enjoyment.
• To sing with confidence and enjoyment.
• To develop composition and appraising skills.
• To develop a musical vocabulary with which to evaluate the music listened to.
• To provide a range of musical opportunities.
• To encourage awareness, enjoyment and appreciation of Music in all its forms.
• To develop imagination and creativity.
• To help children of all abilities develop positive attitudes and to experience success and satisfaction in Music.
• To offer opportunities to perform, compose, listen and appraise.
• To offer opportunities for children to learn how to play a range of musical instruments including brass, woodwind, string and percussion
• To offer extra-curricular activities (weekly choir and orchestra) enabling children to further their love of music, develop and extend their learning and perform in collaboration with others

      Music in EYFS

At St Mary & St Margaret’s we follow the EYFS Early Adopter framework (2020). Within this framework there are four guiding principles which shape our practice.

These are:

1. Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
2. Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
3. Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.

Children develop and learn at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
 

As part of our practice we:

• Provide a balanced curriculum, based on the EYFS, across the seven curriculum areas, using play as the vehicle for learning;
• Promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice.
• We provide early intervention for those children who require additional support;
• Work in partnership with parents and carers;
• Plan challenging learning experiences, based on the individual child, informed by observation and assessment and by the children’s own ideas and interests;
• Provide opportunities for children to engage in activities that are adult-initiated, child-initiated and adult supported;
• Provide a secure and safe learning environment indoors and outdoors.

Music is fully embedded in the EYFS Curriculum and children have daily opportunities to engage in music activities to help them progress towards meeting the ELG (Early Learning Goal) linked to the Music curriculum at the end of Reception:

Expressive Arts & Design

-Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs.

-Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and (when appropriate) try to move in time with music.