Music Policy Rev 2020

Astwood Bank Primary School
MUSIC POLICY
Rationale
Music is important because it helps children to express themselves and to
understand their feelings. It promotes and develops a huge range of social
skills and also provides significant physical and psychological benefits. Music is
also a pleasurable activity which can provide fulfilment throughout life. An
understanding of music leads to more rewarding listening. Knowledge of the
work of a range of musicians and composers contributes to the children’s
understanding of other cultures as well as their own.
“Music is therapy. Music moves people. It connects people in ways that no other
medium can. It pulls heart strings. It acts as medicine.”
Aims
 To introduce the children to a variety of musical genres, and to develop
understanding and appreciation, thus encouraging a life-long love of music.
 To teach the children to sing skilfully and to enjoy choral activities.
 To develop ensemble playing on a range of tuned and untuned instruments
and also to accompany singing.
 To give opportunity to perform confidently to both small and large
audiences and to experience the thrill of the finest concert venues.
 To develop skills which support learning in other areas and encourage vital
life skills such as concentration, creativity, self-confidence, aesthetic
sensitivity, co-operation and the ability to hold a sense of shared purpose.
 To promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Objectives
Each pupil will undertake a course of study based on the National Curriculum
2014. All children will have experience of:
 Performing - Controlling sounds through singing and playing. Using music
and from memory.
 Composing - Creating and developing musical ideas. Using and refining
musical notation.
 Appraising - Responding and reviewing. Using progressively technical
vocabulary.
 Listening, and applying knowledge and understanding.
Organisation
Our Reception children are taught from the foundation stage Early Learning
Goals. Music is embodied within creative development and there is a daily
music and rhyme session.
Throughout the rest of the school, music is planned and taught by the music
coordinator or music specialist using Music Express as a main scheme,
supplemented by other materials. Children get a 40-minute weekly session to
build skills and introduce concepts and these sessions are then linked into the
musical life of the school through performances and communal events.
The school has a weekly song practise and we always sing in assemblies. We
recognise the great benefits of singing together and endeavour to combine
singing simply for sheer pleasure; singing to challenge and excite the children;
and also singing to give opportunity to reflect.
“I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity to see the faces of real people
devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel
optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that.”
Paul McCartney
The structure and membership of our choir varies currently but is generally
open to year groups within KS2, and rehearses on Tuesday mornings. We
have 40-60 members and perform at a number of annual events that have
included harvest, Christmas, school fayres, Redditch Holocaust Service,
Redditch First Schools’ Music Festival and Walkwood Music Festival.
Our choir and musicians regularly travel to concert venues for selected concerts
including Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Worcester Cathedral and Malvern’s
New Space Theatre. The choir has also performed in Birmingham’s LG Arena
as part of a choir of 5000 on several occasions.
From their reception year, children have the opportunity to take up the violin
with the peripatetic tutors and then the range is broadened, when age
appropriate, to include brass, guitar, piano, drums and wind instruments. All
these pupils perform with our orchestra to parents at least once a term and we
also include a variety of hand percussion such as glockenspiels and bells for
children who show ability here. Orchestra is expected to resume in the future.
We also regularly invite professional musicians in to school to perform to our

children. Any other opportunities for developing community links are actively
pursued. We regularly host a German orchestra and link this in with other
schools too.
Our annual leavers’ concert runs over two nights and involves all our oldest
children. These concerts are usually large-scale musicals.
Composer of The Week is a scheme by which music is featured in assemblies

and background information given about the instruments, composers and
countries involved. This can take different forms and is currently being
delivered through the ABRSM classical 100 project.
We regularly run high-profile musical projects such as the BBC Ten Pieces,
song-writing competitions, County Arts projects or recording a whole-school CD.
Resources
We keep and maintain a range of quality tuned and non-tuned percussion
instruments in the dedicated music room, including a full chromatic set of hand
bells and a class set of glockenspiels. These are used as often as possible in
varied and purposeful ways throughout the school. Many other resources are
online. Our piano and our sound & lighting bay are kept in the hall.
Reception classes have specially purchased instruments for small hands which
are kept in their rooms.
Curricular Links
 Literacy – Development of rhyme and word patterns. Expressing views and
opinions clearly using appropriate vocabulary. Using music to accompany
stories
 Numeracy – Counting, grouping and ordering skills
 Geography/History – Instruments, musical styles and cultures from around
the world, past and present
 Computing – Audio and video recording, use of microphones, computer-
based sounds IPads and the internet
 Science – How sounds are produced
 PE – Pupils will have opportunity to respond to music through dance and
expressive movement
Assessment
Assessment tasks are generated by the Music Express scheme. Evidence of
children’s work is collected by the co-ordinator. For music this may include
graphic scoring, worksheets, photographs, recordings etc. The children are
actively encouraged to evaluate and positively critique their own and others’
performances. Reception children are assessed on their Early Learning Goals.
We keep photographic evidence, including video of projects and class sessions,
on the shared area.
Reporting to parents is done annually through a written report focusing on the

child’s ability to work co-operatively and creatively, and with reference to the
musical skills gained. Children are graded against set criteria as having
achieved or exceeded the expectation, or as having needed support.
Equal Opportunities
All our children have full access to a range of musical activities regardless of
sex, race or ability. Our youngest children have special instruments to ensure
access. The County runs a bursary scheme by which children are not denied
peripatetic lessons by virtue of financial hardship. We actively celebrate other
cultures and religions in our music making.
Able pupils will have opportunity to lead groups and perform solos in a variety of
settings. These children will be encouraged to undertake peripatetic music
lessons and become active members of our choir.
JBG (April 2020)

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Music Policy Rev 2020

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Astwood Bank Primary School

We also regularly invite professional musicians in to school to perform to our

Composer of The Week is a scheme by which music is featured in assemblies

Reporting to parents is done annually through a written report focusing on the

JBG (April 2020)

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