What is our aim in teaching Music?
Our aim is to help children understand, enjoy, and create music across a wide range of styles, genres, and traditions. We want children to be confident performers, listeners, and composers who can think creatively, work with others, and express themselves through music.
Through Music, children learn to sing, play instruments, compose, and use technology to make music. They also learn to listen carefully, respond thoughtfully, and understand how music is created and communicated. This prepares them for a life in which music can be enjoyed, appreciated, and shared.
Our Music curriculum follows the Leicestershire Music Primary Scheme of Work. Learning is organised into clear units, with lessons taught in a planned sequence so that knowledge and skills build step by step.
Children revisit key ideas regularly through a spiral curriculum. This means important musical concepts, such as rhythm, pitch, and pulse, are taught repeatedly across different year groups, with learning becoming deeper and more challenging each time. Units are designed to include singing, playing, listening, composing, and learning about the history of music.
Our Music curriculum is inclusive and ambitious. Lessons are designed so all children can succeed, with clear steps, visual support, and practical activities. Children are supported to reach the same learning goals while also being encouraged to explore ideas in more depth.
Learning is active and hands-on. Children use their voices, body percussion, and instruments to perform and compose. Technology is also used to create and manipulate sounds. Musical knowledge is linked to history, culture, and other subjects wherever possible.
Learning in Music is organised around strands such as performing, listening, composing, and understanding musical history. These strands are revisited each year so children can build on what they already know.
Key vocabulary and concepts are used repeatedly in different lessons and contexts. Children practise skills, apply them in projects, and return to them later, helping knowledge move into long-term memory. Assessment during lessons ensures children have a secure understanding before moving on.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Music is explored through play, singing, movement, and everyday activities rather than formal lessons.
Children listen to sounds, respond to rhythms, and use their voices and bodies to make music. Music skills are also developed through other areas of learning. For example:
Children study six Music units each year, covering:
Learning is planned so knowledge and skills build progressively across the school. Children in Key Stage 2 have the opportunity to learn instruments through whole-class, small-group, or individual lessons. An overview of our long-term curriculum planning can be found here.
Children usually have one discrete Music lesson per week (around 20-45 minutes depending on the age of the children), alongside assemblies, singing sessions, and extra-curricular music activities.
Children can further develop musical skills through:
These experiences help children apply their musical skills in real-life and collaborative contexts.
Our Music curriculum helps children to:
By following a carefully planned, inclusive, and research-informed curriculum, we ensure children develop a lifelong appreciation of music and the skills to participate confidently in musical activities.
