Witheridge CofE Vision for Music

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything”.

  Plato; Greek philosopher

 

“Music produces a kind of pleasure that human nature cannot do without”.

Confucius; Chinese philosopher

Vision

Every child will leave Witheridge CofE Academy with an understanding and love of music which they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Impact

At Witheridge CofE Academy music is creative and enjoyable, as well as academic and demanding.  Children will be taught a love and understanding of music through the following seven main strands;

• Performance
• Pulse and rhythm
• Singing
• Composition
• Listening
• Music appreciation
• Significant people

Implementation

Teaching and Learning

Children receive one music lesson a week.  They are taught to play an instrument as part of their whole class music lesson for at least one term every year. Children are taught to read basic staff notation. 

Singing

Singing is central to music in our school.  It may be used as a warm-up to start the weekly music lesson or it may be integral to the topic.  Children are taught singing in a weekly whole school singing assembly, with singing included in other assemblies throughout the week.  Singing plays an important role in school events throughout the year including Christmas plays, Year 6 productions, Christmas concerts and Easter services.  

Additional Instrument teaching

We currently have a team of peripatetic teachers who offer children the opportunity to learn an instrument in a one-to-one or small group lesson paid for by parents.  We offer a reduction in cost to those children who are pupil premium.  

Performance opportunities and community links

Performance is an important aspect of being a musician.  Regular sharing assemblies are held for children to perform in and we endeavour to take part in small and large scale performances within the wider community.  

Impact

Children demonstrate their ability in music in a variety of different ways. The teacher assesses children’s work in music by making informal judgments as they observe them during lessons.  Children are also encouraged to make judgments about how they can improve their own work. At the end of a unit of work, the teacher makes a summary judgment about the work of each pupil which is recorded and fed into end of year reports.