Curriculum Statement for Music
In Lancaster Lane, music runs through the veins of our whole curriculum. We fundamentally believe that music is such an important part of life, whether the children are ‘musical’ or not. Enjoyment and appreciation of music is at the core of our musical purpose, with teaching an understanding of the technical elements vital, in providing the children with a broad and varied musical experience. As well as introducing our children to a lifetime love of appreciating music, enhancing and inspiring and broadening horizons are also key drivers.
School uses Charanga, although teacher based learning is adapted and woven into our topic areas to build upon relevance and interests in the children’s life and to bring the wider world into their experiences. When children show a particular interest in an area, this is built upon and capitalised.
Music is used as a tool for learning throughout the school.
Lancashire Music Service is bought in for Year 4, 5 and 6 children to teach the children to play a brass instrument. The school also runs a fee paying guitar group for Key Stage Two children and School Family Time offers opportunities for singing and dancing. Singing is a high focus of the school with regular singing assemblies and links made with maths, PE, activity time etc fully utilised.
Children visit the local supermarkets and care homes for the elderly to sing Christmas carols. With our local cluster of schools, children join together to sing for enjoyment and to raise money for charity. The Year 4 children take part in the annual Chorley Sings event with other schools in the Chorley area. Some of our parents have a strength in music and have visited school to perform and talk about their instruments and love of music with the children.
The class teacher (or Teaching Assistant) joins in the lesson whilst the music specialist teaches. While the specialist teacher assesses the children’s strengths, weaknesses and next steps, teachers observe, listen to, talk to and assess the children. This assessment is made against Lancashire KLIPs.
It is imperative that the teacher or class Teaching Assistant is involved in the lessons, as it shows the children that their teacher is interested in what they are being taught, thus demonstrating the value we place on music teaching. Moreover, this ensures that the teacher knows what the children have learnt so they can refer to it and build upon this in the half terms when their class doesn’t have specialist teacher input. Finally, the specialist teacher can spend quality time working with children whilst the class teacher or Teaching Assistant supports others during lessons. This maximises his/her quality first teaching time effectively.
Last reviewed January 2024.