INTENT

At Butterwick CE Primary School, we are becoming Musicians! We want to embed a love of music deep within our children which lasts a lifetime. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be music producers, songwriters, composers or performers!

Our vision, at Butterwick, is to give children access to an engaging and fun music curriculum reflecting the world they live in now, but at the same time giving them access to musical styles throughout history.

At Butterwick CE Primary School, children are able to listen and appraise a variety of musical styles alongside performing pieces and creating their own compositions through the use of instruments and their voices. In Year 3 & 5, children have whole class instrument lessons where they learn to play an instrument.

The school have invested in the Kapow music scheme to support the teaching and learning of music. The Kapow scheme ensures the progression of skills throughout each Key Stage. 

Our aim is to ensure that all children continue to grow in confidence as they progress through the musical curriculum and become passionate in their responses to music. Added to this, we want children to become more independent learners within this area, reflect upon their learning and develop resilience within the musical world.

As a school, these are our aims:

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 sing, play instruments, compose, listen and appraise.

Singing skills - A singing culture will be established and nurtured within the school. Weekly singing sessions are conducted with the whole school. Children will be taught to sing a wide-ranging variety of songs and to use their voices expressively.

Instrumental skills - They will have the opportunity to play both tuned and un-tuned instruments with increasing control during their time at Butterwick and will rehearse and perform with others, including performing in front of an audience.

Composing skills - Children will create musical patterns and will be shown how to explore, select and organise musical ideas, recording these in a variety of ways, (e.g.: pictorial score, using notation and video recordings).

Appraising skills - Children will be given the opportunity to explore and explain their own ideas and feelings about music, using music, dance, expressive language and musical vocabulary. They will analyse and compare sounds and will become confident at suggesting improvements for their own work and that of others.

Listening and applying knowledge and understanding- Children will be given the opportunity to listen with concentration and to internalise and recall sounds with increasing aural memory. They will explore how time and place can influence the way music is created, performed and heard, that music is produced in different ways and is described through invented and standard notations.

IMPLEMENTATION

All children at Butterwick participate in regular weekly music lessons. Additional time may be put into the teaching of music when children learn and prepare songs to be performed during collective worship/whole school performances such as our Christmas carol concert. 

The music coordinator monitors the coverage of music objectives through assessment and recordings and ensures that an appropriate number of objectives have been covered for the length of the term

Kapow planning is used by teachers to drive children’s development within music. Every year-group will build upon the learning from prior year groups therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills. This serves as a starting point to aid and enhance our teaching, which can be further developed through additional activities. Teachers should make professional judgements about when to adapt, miss out or add additional materials where this would benefit learning.

Lessons provide opportunities for children to develop practical skills and progress by listening and appraising, singing, playing, composing, and performing.

We promote an enjoyment and foster interest of music through regular singing practice, and extracurricular opportunities such as the KS2 choir, Young Voices and Boston’s Got Talent.

Pupils are given the opportunity to listen to a range of music through various in and out of school opportunities including assembly and class listening repertoires. We offer lunchtime and after school clubs based on Dance and these cover a variety of music genres.

Teachers assess the children’s attainment and progress using the lesson by lesson Kapow assessment objective checklists. This informs future teaching and lesson planning. For classes taught by external providers, there is regular communication with staff to ensure assessment judgements are accurate.

Pupils experiencing difficulties will be given extra encouragement by working in a small group with the teacher/ support staff or with a more musically able child.

Performances take place within various class and whole school activities and are integral to the school ethos. Being a Christian School, we pride ourselves on the quality of our music curriculum as it contributes to the development of their spirituality. Children take part in performances at key points in the year where they sing, dance and play instruments during these performances.

The SLT, music coordinator and class teachers lead regular whole school assemblies which include song learning and music appreciation.

IMPACT

At Butterwick C of E Primary School the impact of this Music curriculum will lead to outstanding progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills.

Those children with a particular interest or aptitude in music will be supported and encouraged to further this – the school will encourage them to take part in individual music lessons, perform in collective worship and share their achievements.

Children will be expected to leave Butterwick meeting at least the age‑related expectations for Music and developing as confident, capable musicians. Our Music curriculum aims to inspire a love of the subject, building enthusiasm and curiosity. It encourages children to develop a life‑long interest in music, whether through further study or personal enjoyment.