Welcome to the music page!

Music coordinator: Miss S Cooper

Music Governor: Mr Denzil Shepheard

Intent
The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music
• Be taught to sing, create and compose music
• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.

At St Botolph's the intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating and composing across a wide variety of styles, traditions and musical genres. Our objective at St Botolph's is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music. We aim to foster an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in both the school and wider community. Wherever possible, we try to enable children to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences by involving themselves in music in a variety of different contexts within school and the wider community. Teamwork is encouraged through whole school singing worships and a range of paired/group activities within the class. An awareness of how music and technology can be integrated is fostered through explicit links with composing and Computing.

Implementation
The music curriculum we deliver ensures students sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded not only in the classroom activities, but also our weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances, the learning of instruments, and the joining of our musical ensembles. The elements of music are taught in lessons, enabling the children to describe pieces of music through the use of the correct musical vocabulary, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. In the classroom, students learn how to play various instruments; percussion, recorders, glockenspiels and keyboards. In doing so, children understand the different principle of each method of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to improvise and compose by focussing on different dimensions of music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum for our younger children, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument. Music has a high profile at St Botolph's with regular performances that are designed to ignite curiousity for the subject. Those children keen to explore music beyond the classroom are offered peripatetic tuition provided by the Lincolnshire Music Service. Additional computing/composing units have been added to the long term provision to enable children to keep up with the ever changing technologies.

Impact
Whilst in school, children have access to a varied programme, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a student may develop a positive mindset: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music, in as many ways as they choose- either as listener, creator or performer. They can analyse music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse. They have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever wish to extend their musical learning beyond the classroom. All children, regardless of abilities, have access to quality music teaching, therefore allowing an expression of creativity.