Being a Musician
Being a musician at Wick Primary
Music is an exciting and integral part of life at Wick Primary School; we’re proud to have music at the heart of our curriculum offer. Music inspires creativity and develops essential skills such as confidence and self-expression. Therefore, we aim to provide a wide range of musical opportunities for all, through our ambitious curriculum and musical performances.
We appreciate Music through listening, performing, composing and singing. This is evident in our curriculum music lessons as well as our assemblies, performances and extra curricular music opportunities. As children progress through the school, they will: deepen their understanding of how music has developed through time; make links between musical genres (and musical periods); and appreciate how Music is influenced by the great composers, as well as the time and place that it is made. Assembly music is linked to the theme for that term as well as foci provided by the local church. Each week there is a piece of music that is linked to the theme for that term with specific listening questions in order to help the children develop a greater understanding of musical elements such as tempo, dynamics, beat, rhythm etc. Music taught in singing practices links to the church and school themes and provoke listening and performance skills as the children sing together. Children are also encouraged to perform in parts and in harmony as a whole school which further embeds learning from their music lessons.
We aim for all our pupils to develop a life-long love of music, in a school with a musical atmosphere, through a wide range of quality musical experiences which engage and inspire them. At the heart of the music curriculum are creativity, curiosity and excitement as well as the ability to perform confidently, compose collaboratively and listen critically.
Music is also central to our wellbeing and the children are given opportunities to experience how music can change your mood listening to calming, uplifting and inspirational music as well as songs specifically chosen by them.
Music at Wick is taught by our specialist Music teacher - Mrs Quinn. She delivers a progressive curriculum which builds upon prior knowledge and skills from previous year groups. Music lessons are taught for an hour a week. Children will perform, listen and analyse critically, sing, improvise and compose music and understand the musical elements as building blocks within music.
How we evaluate our learners as musicians?
All planning for Music curriculum lessons are based on the Model Music Curriculum progression strands. In each year group the areas of singing, composing, performance/musicianship and listening are taught building upon each year's prior knowledge. Progress is monitored against these progression statements after each lesson, where every pupil's attainment is recorded and monitored. This creates a clear picture of the knowledge and understanding of the children across the school. At the end of each year, the children are given a final assessment in music.
Information gathered to inform this understanding is gleaned from pupil observations and discussion, answers to open ended questions, graphic scores, written music and rhythms, recordings of performances and planning is adjusted accordingly to reflect the children's current knowledge and next steps. Evidence is collected against each objectives to create a comprehensive picture of music learning across the school.