Music
Intent
At Meadowhead Infant School we want all of our children to love music. We give the children lots of opportunities to develop a passion for singing, listening to music, composing music and playing instruments. We believe music has a positive impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing and give them lots of opportunities to listen to and appreciate a range of music from different genres, cultures and parts of the world.
We use Active Music Digital to support our music curriculum and this promotes curiosity and empowers our children to become independent and resilient learners. As well as meeting the National Curriculum requirements, it also provides memorable music lessons that will develop their music capital and prepare them for the next stage in their education.
With well-planned lessons, resources and opportunities to perform on stage in front of a live audience and learn to play the recorder in Year 2, we ensure that the children’s musical talents are nurtured.
Year 2 also have the opportunity to attend a weekly choir/musical theatre club and perform in Blackburn Cathedral at their festive Christmas Concert. Each year the whole school watch ‘Travelling By Tuba’ which is a fantastic show that gives the children the opportunity to listen to live music using a huge variety of tuned and untuned instruments. Year 2 then attend a workshop where they learn to play some of the instruments and perform to the rest of the school and their parents. We also celebrate music from around the world as part of our ‘Worldvision’ topic, where each class learns about a different country. The children at Meadowhead love putting on an excellent show!
Implementation
The music curriculum has carefully planned learning opportunities which ensure that in each year group there is a progression of skills, understanding and knowledge. During the school year, each year group focuses on rhythm and pulse, singing games, pitch and instruments.
Our weekly lessons provide the children with the music skills for singing, playing instruments, creating and exploring, composing, listening and appreciating to a high standard. These skills are showcased at the end of each half term when each class performs to the rest of the school to show what they have learnt in music.
Impact
We strive for every child to achieve their full potential in music, develop a love for music, benefit from increased confidence and mental wellbeing, be ready for their next stage in learning and inspire aspirations for the future career paths. The lessons are very hands on and practical, which allows teachers to easily see progress made each week. Teachers can also quickly address any children who are working towards expectations.
Our end of term music assemblies are a fantastic way to showcase the progress that our children make in each of the areas covered over the year.