Music Curriculum at St Catherine's
Chidren in Year 2,3 and 4 take part in Swindon Music Service festivals at the Wyvern to The Early Years children are taking part in the “Make A Noise” project which is also run by the Swindon Music Service. Music in Early Years is taught through the Early Learning Goal “Creative Development”. Children are encouraged to play tuned and untuned percussion, to explore sound and create their own sounds through daily music activities and specific music sessions.
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
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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
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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
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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.
National Curriculum Documents and Policies
At St Catherine’s everybody takes part in music with great enthusiasm. We sing together in Assemblies daily and a special singing Assembly takes place every Monday afternoon as a fantastic, musical start to the week. We listen to a piece of music each week as we enter the hall for assemblies.
We offer individual music lessons from the Swindon Music Co-operative within school. These are offered in violin and guitar. The Swindon Music Service works very closely with us to provide class instrumental lessons. Currently Years 3 and 4 are learning to play the ukelele. Children in Years 2, 3 and 4 have the opportunity to take part in Swindon Music Festivals at the Wyvern and Year 5 take part in Young Voices.
We also make use of Charanga - a Swindon scheme for developing both singing and composing skills.
Throughout the rest of the school music is taught as a part of the topic with the children in Key Stage 1 being taught to
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use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
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play tuned and untuned instruments musically
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listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music
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experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.
The children in Key Stage 2 are taught to
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play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
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improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
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listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
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use and understand staff and other musical notations
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appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
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develop an understanding of the history of music.
Each year group takes part in a musical performance. Reception, Years 1 and 2 take part in the Nativity performance at Christmas. Years 3 and 4 take part in the Easter Happening. Years 5 and 6 take part in the end of year musical.