Music
Music at Castleway
At Castleway, we make music is an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage all children to participate in a variety of musical experiences, through which we aim to build up their love of music, self-confidence and sense of achievement.
Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to, sing in tune and with other people, play musical instruments with increasing control, fluency and expression and listen critically to a wide range of music from .different periods, genres, styles and traditions.
As children progress through our school they will increasingly understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated through the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and musical notation.
We teach music in Reception classes as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. In the Early Years, music contributes to a child’s development in the area of expressive arts and design. Key stage 1 and 2 children are taught music by their class teacher.
We use Charanga (a quality, online resource) to support our music teaching as it is a very clear and comprehensive scheme of work which covers all the national curriculum requirements in a full and progressive way. Units consist of both songs and instrumental works. Instrumental learning (playing the glockenspiel and recorder) is taught explicitly and progressively using the Charanga units of work. Each year group completes 3 units of work per school year.
Across the school we choose pieces of music from the Charanga listening centre to encourage active listening to music from different genres and eras. The listening centre also provides music which is selected for use in a variety of lessons and activities to create, mood, atmosphere and to aid concentration.
Children throughout the school sing in assemblies and during collective worship times. Singing plays a prominent part in all school productions at Christmas, Easter and during the School year. Children also sing carols at Christmas time.
Outside of the classroom, children in KS2 have the opportunity to take part in tuition sessions. Peripatetic teachers come into school and teach brass lessons to children in Years 4 & 5. Children are also given the opportunity to sing or play an instrument solo or in small groups during school productions and extra-curricular activities.
Teachers assess children’s work in music by making informal judgements as they observe them during lessons. Additional evidence may be gained during school performances or other relevant events, and may be presented in the form of recordings or photographs. The attainment of each child is indicated annually in the end of year report.
Children will retain knowledge that is pertinent to music and will have the opportunity to foster their instrumental flare and use this as a form of expression. Children will participate in wider musical activities, where they will gain wider audience performance experience. Opportunities for improved well -being and confidence will be increased.
