Music
Intent
Music is central to human culture, creativity and connection. At Mount Pleasant, our aim is for children to enjoy, appreciate, understand and create music throughout their lives. We want music to unite our school community through singing, ensemble work, listening and performance.
We believe every child should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to make good progress in music. Through a rich and varied curriculum, we aim to develop children’s abilities in listening, singing, improvising, composing, performing and appraising.
Children are also exposed to a broad range of musical genres, artists and composers, helping them to develop open-minded listening and a wide cultural understanding.
Implementation
At Mount Pleasant, we follow the Charanga scheme of work, supplemented by violin tuition for children in Years 4 to 6 through specialist music teaching. We also work with professional musicians from Kirklees Music Service to further enrich provision.
Our curriculum is informed by the Model Music Curriculum and Ofsted’s music research. It is designed to ensure clear progression in technical, constructive and expressive aspects of music. Core elements such as pulse, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and notation are revisited regularly and taught through a range of musical genres.
Children are also introduced to a carefully selected range of composers in weekly assemblies, broadening their knowledge of both classical and contemporary music. In addition, the school is proud to share two original anthem songs, “Think Big, Aim High” and “Aspirations”, created with Danny from Class Dynamix. These projects involved the whole school and celebrate our commitment to creativity, collaboration and pupil voice.
Teachers monitor pupil progress closely, and Charanga’s Bronze, Silver and Gold levels allow activities to be adapted to meet different needs.
Impact
As a result of our music curriculum, children leave Mount Pleasant ready for the next stage of their musical learning. They are able to:
- perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of periods, genres and traditions
- sing and use their voices confidently
- create and compose music individually and with others
- learn a musical instrument
- use technology appropriately in music
- understand how music is created, produced and communicated
- demonstrate a love of singing, playing instruments and discovering new music
Pupil Voice
“I thought I could never do it (play an instrument) but at the end I did.”
“Whenever I get in an argument or when I’m not feeling, like, feeling down music is the only thing that makes me get up and just dance and sing the song.”
“(Violins) was fun, it was really fun learning new songs to play on the violin.”
“I used to hate rock music but when we listen to some type of rock music I think I like it more.”
“I got better at dancing with Danny. Think big aim high!”
