The intent of the music curriculum is to:
- Enable all students to develop their musical potential through engaging experiences, recognising that music as art is an important part of cultural identity. We also recognise that music benefits both cognitive development and character development. Performing is a crucial part of this.
- Encourage and prepare students for lifelong musical learning and appreciation, both in and out of school, including preparation for further study if appropriate.
All of our students should have the opportunity to learn music as a cultural entitlement. We hope that our approach will ensure that all students receive this and are successful in their learning. The following principles have informed the planning of the United Learning curriculum across all subjects.
- Entitlement: All students have the right to learn the Sheffield Springs Academy Music curriculum alongside the United Learning Music curriculum.
- Coherence: Taking the National Curriculum as its starting point, our curriculum is carefully sequenced so that powerful knowledge builds term by term and year by year.
- Mastery: We ensure that foundational knowledge, skills, and concepts are secure before moving on. Students revisit prior learning and apply their understanding in new contexts.
- Representation: All students see themselves in our curriculum, and our curriculum takes all students beyond their immediate experience.
- Education with character: Our curriculum - which includes the taught subject timetable as well as spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development, our co-curricular provision, and the ethos and ‘hidden curriculum’ of the school – is intended to spark curiosity and to nourish both the head and the heart.
The curriculum is based on a mastery model, in which the ambition is that all pupils are taught and achieve the essential knowledge and skills in each of the years of the curriculum so that both knowledge and skills can be re-used effectively in future learning to achieve greater depth of musical learning and outcome. Students should begin to specialise as they progress through their school curriculum, choosing an instrument to ‘master’ over time.
Our Music curriculum will:
- Give our students the ambition to perform to a high standard, and to support others who also aim for high standards.
- Build their confidence to perform in both small and large settings as a member of a wider ensemble, participating in memorable occasions that contribute to the school life and community.
- Foster creativity to compose and improvise with skill, building on prior experiences.
- Instil respect within all pupils for each other in performance, and the artistry of musicians from all backgrounds.
- Drive pupils’ enthusiasm to pursue musical talents and interests through an engaging curriculum and co-curriculum.
- Encourage the determination within every pupil to persevere and strive when refining and improving performance and composition.
KS3
A child at KS3 will be given the opportunity to develop and enhance their musical skills in areas such as performance, composition and listening and evaluating. By the end of KS3, students should be able to perform on at least two instruments, performing with increasing independence as a soloist and in an ensemble, with competence and expression. A child should be able to work collaboratively and effectively with other performers, showing the ability to lead/direct an ensemble.
Through compositional tasks, students will create music that shows an understanding of repetition and contrast. Implement melodic development, using major, minor, and pentatonic scale to create music in a variety of form. Students should be able to notate their musical ideas appropriately using traditional stave notation and music software where possible.
A child at KS3 should be able to listen to and evaluate a wide range of music, identifying instrumentation, genre and cultural influences which have shaped the world we live in. Students should be able to listen to and evaluate music using subject specific vocabulary with confidence.
KS4
A child at KS4 will have developed their independence, resilience and character traits in order to prepare themselves to become successful in their lives. Students will gain an insight into the career pathways within the music industry.
Students will continue to develop their skills in the performance and creative aspects of music, working as a soloist, within a musical ensemble, and as part of production team.
By the end of KS4, students should be able to make informed and considered decisions, make subjective judgements about their own work and the work of others, and be able to implement these into their work.