Music

Purpose of study

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high- quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

Aims

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

The Music Curriculum at Cuddington

Cuddington will “Bring out the Best” in our pupils by providing a language rich and diverse experience both within and beyond the classroom. Our flexible approach enables everyone to thrive personally and academically, overcome challenges and prepare them for lifelong learning. 

This is reflected in our curriculum approach to learning music, using the aims set out in Development Matters (2021) and the National Curriculum (2014) as frameworks for how we map content, ensure progression in knowledge and sequence our units of work. 

Intent, Implementation, Impact

It is our goal at Cuddington Primary School to deliver a high-quality music education that gives children the foundations they need to understand the value of music in all aspects of life. We place great emphasis on the appropriate knowledge, skills and subject-specific vocabulary to be successful and ready for the next stage of their education and into their future lives.  

Cuddington Primary School uses a high-quality curriculum from Charanga and have developed a comprehensive curriculum that meets the needs of our children. It provides the right balance between substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge, which supports teaching, learning and assessment. 

The children at Cuddington Primary School will: 

• build a wider knowledge of music with success being shown across different attainable levels,
• become more confident, leading to a stronger sense of self belief as they progress,
• fully support each other and give constructive feedback to each other, treating each other with respect,
• be able to perform in front of informal and formal audiences is positive and beneficial for all those involved.

KS1 and KS2 Curriculum Overview

From the academic year of 2024/25, all schools are required to publish a summary of their music development plan on their website in order to:

• raise awareness of their music development plan
• promote the school music offer to parents and prospective parents
• give greater opportunity for schools and music hubs to work together

Our music development plan is attached below.