Manorside Academy

Music

At Manorside Academy our music curriculum aims to develop a child’s musicianship so that they grow into confident, creative performers and discerning critical listeners.

We recognise that music is a creative and expressive art, in which all children should be given every opportunity to develop his or her own potential and enjoyment in this area of the curriculum. Making music is an active experience at Manorside Academy. We believe music can provide pleasure, fulfilment and solace through every stage of a person’s life. Music utilises and develops cognitive abilities, physical co-ordination, aesthetic awareness, emotions, social skills and spiritual values as well as bringing people together in a spirit of co-operation and mutual enjoyment.

Our Aims…

We aim to enable our children to:

  • Enjoy music through active involvement in lessons and to improve their musical skills
  • Develop confidence in their musical abilities and performing opportunities.
  • Stimulate an awareness of, and lively interest in a range of different styles of music.
  • Become aware of music in our society today and in cultures from other times and places.
  • Create opportunities for pupils to make a contribution to society today through music making and performing.
  • Receive and experience a wide set of musical experiences during their time with us at school.
  • Develop music skills, including singing, playing of instruments, movement, improvising, composing, using IT and other available resources to compose.
  • Foster co-operation through joint music making and empathy and interest in others’ work and performances
  • Try their best and develop in musical awareness and experience.
  • Prepare all our pupils to be ‘secondary’ ready.

Planning objectives

Pupils from Reception to year 6 will be taught..

Performing

  • To perform to a live audience
  • Play an instrument
  • Play or sing their own musical compositions

Composing

  • Children are taught to explore, arrange and order sounds through the provision of IT programmes, ( such as Band lab and Garage band) as they learn composing skills such as ‘looping’, sequencing, layering sounds , incorporating real instruments as part of an IT composition.
  • All pupils will learn how to compose soundtracks against a film clip, choosing a clip, composing a soundtrack as we as creating sound effects.
  • Pupils will learn to compose songs, learning and understanding about form, structure, verse, chorus, hooks and bridges.

Listening and Evaluating

  • Children will be taught to listen attentively to a wide range of recorded and live music – to recognise and respond to musical elements through movement and discussion.
  • They will listen to each other’s work and critique
  • Learn how to register what they have enjoyed from a performance, as well as offer some helpful and useful tips on how to improve.

Singing

  • Pupils will be given plenty of opportunities to sing. They have weekly singing assemblies as well as singing taking place in weekly music lessons.
  • Pupils will also have the opportunity to join a choir, perform inside and outside of the school to a range of audiences.
  • Pupils will sing with the Poole schools Music Association and will be active members in music making activities.

Assessment

Pupils will be assessed after each scheme of work. Each scheme of work finishes with a performance given by the pupil. This work will be recorded for the teacher to assess progress that has been made, and whether the objectives have been met for the unit. Possible outcomes and musical assessment is recorded on DC pro.

Pupils will have a music book, which will record any information they have learnt around a particular unit of work as well as self-assessment sheets about their performances. The music book will travel with them throughout their time at Manorside Academy.

All pupils, through Schemes of work will be learning Substantive knowledge (through musical notation reading, compositional writing) as well as disciplinary knowledge when singing, playing instruments, improvising and composing, to develop creative and original pieces and performances.

All planning will have key assessment questions embedded, for teachers to assess what musical knowledge and understanding is taken place.

There are a range of assessment outcomes for each scheme of work for all teachers to assess the musical outcomes to track pupil progress throughout their school year.