Music

Intent: 

At the Pathfinder C of E School, it is the belief that every child should have access to a high quality music education. Every pupil possesses the natural ability to be able to appreciate music. This ability will be nurtured and refined as they progress through their school years to enable them to flourish as versatile and skillful musicians. Music lesson are taught by a specialist music teacher delivering a high-quality music education that will engage and inspire children to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Our Music curriculum is designed to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to appreciate, critique and compose music. 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.

Our curriculum is designed 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 benefits of music education are numerous. The children will learn to express themselves through teamwork, learning how to show empathy to others and towards themselves. They will have the opportunity to unleash and explore their creativity. As well as developing self-discipline. The benefits are also cross curricular, especially with maths and English.  Learning music also aids with speech development and learning to read. As well as developing spatial intelligence and understanding numbers.

Our aim is to cultivate a passion for music. Encouraging children to reach their full potential and take these skills forward with them into later life. 

Implementation:

Music plays an important role in the daily rhythm at The Pathfinder School.  Children participate in weekly whole school and Key Stage singing assemblies giving children access to a broad selection of musical genres.

Additionally, there is a school choir that practises weekly, allowing those who would like to, pursue their passion to sing.  The children work towards an annual performance at Young Voices which is always a fantastic experience.   Singing practise supports our older children who perform an end of year performance.

Every child will learn the recorder in years 3 and 4. This will aid pupils to enhance their performance skills as well as reading music notation and understanding music theory.

Pupils will listen to a broad range of music. Covering a multitude of styles. From pop, jazz and classical to world music and historical periods. They will learn to listen to music critically and evaluatively. Helping them to create influences for their own styles of music.

Pupils will have the opportunity to compose and improvise music using the skills they have developed through performance and listening. Aiding them in creating their own identity.

Impact:

Our music curriculum is high quality, knowledge-based, well-sequenced and is planned to demonstrate progression.  If our pupils have understood and retained knowledge from the carefully sequenced curriculum we have taught, we know that they are where they should be.

At The Pathfinder we ensure that children are equipped with music skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.

We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about music, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.