Bow Community Primary School Music Development Plan
Music Development Plan Summary: Overview
This is a summary of how our school delivers music education to all our pupils across three areas – curriculum music, co-curricular provision and musical experiences – and what changes we are planning in future years. This information is to help pupils and parents or carers understand what our school offers and who we work with to support our pupils’ music education.
Part A: Curriculum music
This is about what we teach in lesson time, how much time is spent teaching music and any music qualifications or awards that pupils can achieve.
Our current curriculum gives opportunities for pupils to develop skills, understanding and knowledge in the core areas of the EYFS Framework and the National Curriculum:
· listening to a broad range of music and learning to appraise it
· using their voices to sing or chant with increasing confidence
· using instruments or voices to perform with others with a sense of ensemble, in small groups or in WCET
· selecting and combining sounds to create compositions
· starting to build a musical vocabulary based on the inter-related dimensions of music
The curriculum has been planned as a rolling programme over two years in all classes apart from UKS2 which has a third year. This is to ensure that learning for children in all mixed year groups is progressive, ambitious, fresh and stimulating.
During the academic year of 23-24, curriculum music was taught by class teachers, with one unit of learning in Autumn, Spring and Summer. 30 – 45 minutes per week were allocated to this learning.
Resources used as tools for teaching and learning include Charanga, BBC 10 pieces, BBC Schools Teach.
Actions
1 From September 2024, the newly appointed Music Lead, who is a music specialist, will be planning to deliver consistently high-class music teaching and learning for at least an hour each week in most classes. Other classes of children will be taught music by the class teacher or a PPA cover teacher with expertise and the Music Lead will provide support where needed and concentrated musical projects once or twice a short term.
2 During the autumn term, as part of resetting the music vision for the school, the Music Lead will initiate a music curriculum audit, consulting school leadership, staff and pupils to identify high-quality teaching, skills or knowledge learning and resourcing, as well as aspects of the current musical provision that need to be developed, improved or extended in order for all children’s needs to be met and for each child to make good or accelerated progress.
3 By the end of Spring B, the Music Lead, in consultation with other staff, will have devised an ambitious curriculum, putting in place a skills progression and music rolling programme, which will seek to extend and challenge all learners in their musical learning and develop them fully in all areas of musicianship. The skills progression will give a clear understanding of what children should be able to achieve and know as they progress from year to year. The curriculum intent and implementation will be based on the EYFS Framework, the National Curriculum for Music programmes of study, advice in the Model Music Curriculum as well as the New National Plan for Music. It will use specialist expertise, Charanga, BBC resources and other online resources as tools to facilitate child-centred, high-class teaching and learning for all children. Units of learning will be linked to other curriculum areas or festivals where appropriate and will include the use of music technology as a tool for composition. An assessment tool will be developed, trialled and fully in place by the end of Spring B.
4 During the academic year, the Music Lead will organise CPD sessions on different aspects of musicianship so that a consistency approach can be established in terms of classroom management during Music lessons, as well as on how to teach the necessary skills, knowledge and vocabulary. This is so that all children can achieve well in the practical skills of musicianship as well as in the understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music and in how composers over time have used these to build on the innovations of others and introduced their own creative ideas to extend the development of music, influenced by history, background, culture, nationality and gender.
Part B: Extra-Curricular Music
This is about opportunities for pupils to sing and play music, outside of lesson time, including choirs, ensembles and bands, and how pupils can make progress in music beyond the core curriculum.
Whole Class Ensemble Tuition:
During 2023-24, in KS1 a range of instruments were loaned from the Devon Music Education Hub to introduce the children to some basics on ensemble playing:
boom whackers, ocarinas and sound shapes
In Key Stage Two, the school’s class set of glockenspiels were used to extend ensemble skills.
One-to-One Tuition:
Pupils in KS1 and 2, currently have the opportunity to have 1:1 tuition on the guitar. Parents pay for this tuition which is given by a self-employed musician. Some pupils loan guitars from school resources and some provide their own instruments. Pupils in KS2 receive drumming tuition from the Devon Drum School. They are working toward Trinity Rock and Pop awards and one is in the Crediton Youth Orchestra. The school provides a sound-protected rehearsal space for this tuition.
Actions
1 As part of a re-setting of the music vision at Bow, during the autumn term, the Music Lead will gather evidence of teaching and learning in whole-class ensemble tuition experiences.
2 By the end of Spring B the Music Lead will devise a rolling programme of Whole Class Ensemble Tuition so that all children in KS2 will have the opportunity over time to learn at least two different instruments from a different culture or from the orchestra (appropriately sized or adapted pre-learners such as jsaxes) for a significant period of time so they start to become confident early practitioners. The intention will be through these units of learning, to inspire all children to consider taking up 1:1 or small group tuition where funding and/or parental support is in place.
3 To this end, throughout the academic year, the Music Lead will be establishing further relationships with the Devon Music Hub and other musical partnerships, to source tutors and grants where possible.
4 The Music Lead will also throughout the year establish and maintain good communication with the current guitar and drum tutors and parents who provide funding for their offspring, to facilitate extension of 1:1 and/or group tuition and to audit the progress of children’s skill development through the tutoring.
5 The Music Lead will start to establish some extra-curricular clubs with a rotation through the year, such as a KS2 choir, a KS1 Singing Club, a KS1 Music Club and a KS2 Composing Club.
Part C: Musical experiences
This is about all the other musical events and opportunities that we organise, such as singing in assembly, concerts and shows, and trips to professional concerts.
At Bow Community Primary School, children have opportunities to take part in performance experiences in the following ways: through informal performances to children in their class or to children in other classes and through Nativity plays and end of year productions.
KS1 children have weekly singing assemblies which build their listening and vocal skills through listening to a range of compositions and by learning warm ups and songs reflecting seasons and festivals throughout the year.
Instrumental tutors give concerts during the year to encourage more children to take up an instrument.
Actions
1 As part of re-setting the whole-school vision for music, during the autumn term, the Music Lead will gather ideas and views from children, staff and the leadership team as to how to build performance experiences for all children. These will include developing a KS2 Carol Service and may include a KS2 vocal and instrumental concert in the spring term. Performance opportunities will also be given at the ends of units of learning. This could be to other classes or to parents and carers. Children taking part in clubs will be given, where appropriate, opportunities to perform to parents and carers.
2 KS1 singing assemblies will be continued and developed, with the intention to build on and extend the skills of children to be expressive performers.
3 KS2 singing assemblies will be started in Autumn Term A, led by the Music Lead. These will be used to build and extend the quality of unison, solo and harmony singing in KS2 as well as to extend the opportunities they have, to listen to a wide range of music and build a listening vocabulary using the inter-related dimensions of music.
4 Children in UKS2 will have the opportunity to take part in online events run by the Royal Opera House which will give them an introduction to opera and will form a starting point for learning how to create aspects of an opera themselves.
5 During this academic year, the Music Lead will start to make links with other schools or local community organisations to extend the opportunities for all pupils to experience live music events.
In the future
This is about what the school is planning for subsequent years.
Actions
1 Based on a review at the start of Summer Term B 2025, the Music Lead will plan to conduct an audit of staff confidence in delivering high class musical experiences to children in Autumn A 2025. Further CPD will be given where needed in Autumn B 2025.
2 Further pupil voice about the success of the Music Curriculum, WCET and Extra-curricular activities in meeting all their needs for child-centred learning will be gathered in Autumn A 2025 and appropriate changes will be made to continue to develop and extend each child’s musicianship.
3 Programmes of WCET and extra-curricular opportunities will be developed by the Music Lead, with the continuous purpose to enable all children to play an instrument within an ensemble and to develop confidence and expertise as singers and musical listeners.
4 Links with other musical providers within the local community and further afield will be developed.
Further information (optional)
Music will be used as a tool to support the well-being of pupils and carefully managed practical activities involving paired or group interactions will help children as they learn to become socially aware, resilient and independent learners.