Music

Intent

At Balfour Infant School we believe that Music is a unique way of communicating that can inspire and motivate children. We believe it is a vehicle for personal expression, and it can play an important part in the personal development of people. Music reflects the culture and society we live in, and so the teaching and learning of music enables children to better understand the world they live in.

The objectives of teaching music in our school are to enable children to:

• Know and understand how sounds are made and then organised into musical structures;
• Know how music is made through a variety of instruments;
• Know how music is composed and written down;
• Know how music is influenced by the time, place and purpose for which it was written;
• Develop the interrelated skills of performing, composing and appreciating music.

Implementation

Throughout the school, we use the Music Express published scheme that fulfils the requirements of the national curriculum and has been personalised to our school.  Each unit is designed to build upon prior learning. While there are opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each teaching unit, the progression planned into the scheme of work means that the children are increasingly challenged as they move through the school. We provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music, to develop the skills, to appreciate a wide variety of musical forms, and to begin to make judgements about the quality of music. We recognise that in all classes, children have a wide range of musical ability, and so we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. All children have opportunities to sing and perform in a variety of contexts including assemblies and plays.

Impact

Children will develop and build upon new skills and encounter new experiences through exciting lessons. The pupils will have extended their individual talents in all aspects of music including composition, singing and performing. They will be able to work together, have an appreciation for others, high levels of wellbeing and involvement and foster a love of music. The impact of the Music curriculum will be through learning walks, photographic and video evidence and Pupil Voice.

What do our children think of Music at Balfour Infant School?

Year R child: “When I listened to the music it made me want to play the piano.”

Year One child: "In Year One we do lots of singing. We were thinking about pitch.....when it gets high and gets low. I liked using the drums to tap and bang."

Year Two child: "I loved when we learnt about ‘beat’. We started by tapping our hands on our knees, keeping it steady and in time. After we learnt ‘rhythm’ with body parts. Finally, we used instruments to show what we had learnt in beat and rhythm."

Music Gallery