Our Lady of the Rosary

Music

At Our Lady of the Rosary School, our vision is to transform the lives of our pupils within a Catholic environment by nurturing the wellbeing of each child, promoting the highest academic achievement and instilling a lifelong love of learning. We aim to fulfil our school strap line ‘Faith, Love, Learning’ by igniting a thirst for knowledge and a desire to achieve through an engaging and creative curriculum that promotes the highest academic achievements and prepares our pupils to be successful in their adult life.

Our Vision…

At Our Lady of the Rosary, we understand that music enables pupils to become expressive, creative and confident individuals. Music ignites a range of creative and intellectual skills that lead to successes in a wide range of areas throughout school life and into the future. Our music curriculum will increase the pupils’ skills and knowledge giving them essential creative opportunities.

As a school, we share and celebrate our music with pride and express that every child is an Our Lady of the Rosary Musician.

Intent

At Our Lady of the Rosary, we believe that all pupils have the right to celebrate music through a wide range of musical genres. They develop their understanding of the history of music as well as the skills they need to be a successful musician. Through well-planned and structured lessons, extra- curricular activities, such as after school clubs, pupils are supported to develop their musical abilities and express themselves in a safe environment. Music lessons not only provide pupils with knowledge but also develop musical skills, allowing them to express themselves, develop confidence and prepare them for their next steps in their musical education. Music units are planned to ensure that lessons build upon previous knowledge, vocabulary and skills. Units of work progress to enable pupils to develop  their understanding and skills. Pupils have access to a range of instruments to support their composition, improvisation and performance skills.

EYFS

Being Imaginative and Expressive ELG Pupils at the expected level of development will:

  • Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher;
  • Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs;
  • Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate try to move in time with music.

Key Stage 1

Pupils will be taught through the National Curriculum to: use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes, play tuned and untuned instruments musically listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music and experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

Key Stage 2

Pupils will be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They will develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. Pupils will be taught to: play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression, improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music. They will listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory, use and understand staff and other musical notations, appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians and develop an understanding of the history of music.

 

Implementation

  • Music is taught weekly using the Charanga scheme.
  • At the start of each unit of work, pupils will review previous learning and will have the opportunity to share what they already know.
  • Every year group will build upon the learning from the previous year therefore developing depth of understand and progression of skills. (Pulse and rhythm, composition and improvisation, listening and performance).
  • During Act of Worships, the school joins together to sing and learn hymns and other songs to celebrate the Catholic ethos.
  • Pupils listen to a wide range of musical pieces and genres identifying musical elements and features, discussing their effect and justifying their ideas.
  • Pupils listen to music with discernment expressing their opinions clearly and giving reasons for these. 
  • Pupils create and combine rhythms, melodies, harmonies or lyrics within their own music and can record these in a variety of ways. 
  • Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.
  • Pupils improvise imaginatively and expressively with their voice or a musical instrument.
  • Pupils have had opportunities to perform for a variety of purposes on their own or as part of a group.
  • Pupils can perform musical pieces confidently, fluently and expressively using their voice or an instrument sometimes using notation as a guide.
  • Enrichment opportunities include: a Key Stage 2 choir who perform in assemblies and concerts throughout the year, annually at the Bexley school’s Catholic Choral Concert as well as having performed on a number of occasions at London’s O2 Arena in the world famous ‘Young Voices’ concerts; A Musical Theatre group join together to create amazing performances that are shown at many occasions throughout the school year.
  • Rocksteady Music Company provide music lessons for selected pupils where they learn and perform using different instruments.
  • A choral coach from Southwark Cathedral will work with Year groups 1-6 on singing in parts and groups.
  • Outcomes of work are regularly monitored to ensure that they reflect a sound understanding of the key identified knowledge.
  • Assessment is informed by observations during lessons, verbal feedback, pupil voice and work scrutiny.
  • Summative judgements (Working Towards/Working At/Working above age-related Expectations) are recorded for Music at the end of each term (KS1 and KS2).
  • An end of year overall summative judgement is made in end of year reports for all KS1 and KS2 pupils (EYFS profile assessment - ELG Expressive arts and design).  
  • Effective use of educational visits and visitors are planned to enrich and provide first-hand learning experiences for pupils.
  • Cross-curricular links are planned for and allow children to deepen their understanding across the curriculum, including the use of history, mathematics and science.

 

Impact

Pupils at Our Lady of the Rosary will be able to understand how to listen, compose, improvise and perform and use a range of skills. Musical experiences inspire pupils’ curiosity and foster a love for the art of music. Our Pupils will become confident, proficient, creative musicians who enjoy playing and performing music. Pupils will have meaningful, memorable musical learning experiences that will last a lifetime. They will develop skills to play a  musical instrument as well as with reading and creating music. They will leave Our Lady of the Rosary with the necessary skills and subject knowledge they need in order to be a successful musician and equipped to take on further learning.

We have high aspirations for all pupils, which will see them through to further study, work and be successful in their adult life.

 

Music overview 2024

Music Development plan