Music at Ryedene
“We are musicians”
Subject Leader: Miss Strand
My name is Miss Strand and I am the subject lead for music. As a musician, I have always enjoyed working with young people, encouraging them to express themselves and make music a part of their everyday lives. Music is an amazing subject because every child deserves the opportunity to create, perform, and develop in their own unique way. Watching children grow in confidence through music is one of the most rewarding parts of my role. I believe that learning to read music is a superpower: a universal language that connects people across the world and a lifelong skill that children can carry with them wherever they go.
Vision: The vision for Music at Ryedene is to ensure a high-quality universal provision of music education for all pupils. We want to engage and inspire our pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. It involves 5 key areas of learning which when taken together, all contribute and interrelate towards the steadily increasing development of musicianship. These include listening, musicianship, singing, composing and performing. Music at Ryedene allows children to embark on a journey to develop skills from all the key areas of learning building their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement, allowing for the children to leave for secondary school as well-rounded musicians.
What we are teaching in music: Music at Ryedene Primary School will be taught in line with the legal requirements – one hour per week. The teaching of Music is fully inclusive and will include provision for Music for all pupils on the school roll. The content of Music taught will allow our aims of creating musicians to be met through having significant coverage of the skills and knowledge guided by the new Model Music Curriculum. Consequently, we ensure the children can perform, listen to, review and evaluate music, 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 and use technology appropriately.
How we teach music: At Ryedene, we have a specialist music teacher who, along with all teachers follow the Charanga scheme of work to guide them and support them to meet the broad musical outcomes in line with the national curriculum. Teachers have a clearly outlined key documents pack to support them including: a knowledge organiser with prior learning links, skills progression, a Long-Term Plan and Medium-Term plans which are carefully constructed offering a sequence of learning. Planning has the required/example learning outcomes on as well as key questions to ensure knowledge is revisited and remembered, consequently, supporting teachers to deliver a consistent and universal music education. Lesson plans also ensure children understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
Impact – what the children have learnt: Children at Ryedene enjoy having a broad music curriculum and have the opportunity to showcase many different skills. Through engaging in inclusive music lessons, all children can develop their confidence and self-esteem whilst at Ryedene. They develop an understanding and appreciation of performing for others and leave the school with the skill of being able to read and play music. By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes for each key area of their music journey. Evidence to support this is recorded by our specialist music teacher through careful observations and made available for all teachers to assess the knowledge and skills for each area of the children’s learning.
