Padstow School

MUSIC

Music can change the world

Ludwig von Beethoven

At Padstow, it is our intent that we pass on and nurture the sheer joy that music can bring, enriching each pupil’s learning experience. We encourage all our pupils to become involved in our school musical life and to have the opportunity to experiment and be creative. Our mantra is our pupils should be ‘doing music’ as much as possible.

Singing is at the core of our music curriculum and the wider community. We strive to help our pupils to build the confidence to sing in a group, to begin to sing in harmony, develop a good understanding of musical terminology as well as the resilience to try and try again.

To become good listeners is an important skill we teach them through our delivery of the music curriculum. We teach them to be open-minded in their listening, to listen critically, to concentrate and to listen to a wide range of music. This helps them to become confident and creative composers and performers.

Intent:

To build a musical curriculum where every young person can experience music which develops learning and enriches our pupils individually as well as a school’s wider community. Pupils should be ‘doing music’ as much as possible.

Implementation

At Padstow we use the award winning Charanga Music scheme of work to support and enhance our music teaching and learning. This provides us with week-by-week lessons for all years from Rec – Y6, with clear progression and exciting whiteboard resources for every lesson.

We then adapt our music teaching to the needs and interests of our children, building in cross curricular links wherever possible. We use this alongside various exciting music units, such as the BBC Ten Pieces which opens the world of classical music to both KS1 and KS2.

Our weekly singing assemblies allow the children opportunities to develop their singing skills and gain an understanding of how ensembles work. Children are challenged to reflect on their music knowledge and question themselves how do they know more, remember more and understand more.

In previous years, we have worked with the Cornwall Music hub to provide whole class instrumental teaching and we plan continue this into the future. We also take an active part in community events such as learning traditional songs for May Day, Harvest, Nativity and a Christmas Carol performance at the local church. We also take part in Song Fest, a countywide vocal project.