In January 2024 we started using the SingUp! scheme for music. This will be reviewed periodically to ensure it is fulfilling our needs. 

Intent

At Moorcroft Wood we believe that music is an essential part of a child’s education, therefore every child has the opportunity to participate in a wide range of musical activities during their school career. 

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire learners to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Through our broad and balanced curriculum, opportunities to sing and learn instruments underpin learning and development not only within music as a subject but also through a cross-curricular approach. We want our children to foster a love of music within their learning through other subjects to aid learning and enjoyment.

We recognise that singing is a great starting point for musical learning and the development of many skills. We intend to create a strong and positive bond within our school and join the community together – marking significant moments by singing together and listening to music, like during assemblies, instrumental performances, musical visitors into school and special events in the calendar. Additionally, performances at different venues such as the Forest Arts centre aim to develop relationships.

Implementation

The music curriculum ensures students sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities and other musical events throughout the year such as performances and assemblies.

Whilst at Moorcroft Wood Primary school we aim for our children to meet the expectations of the National Curriculum. These are:

• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

The elements of music and the national curriculum are taught in classroom lessons using the scheme ‘SingUp!’ so that children are able to use some of the language of music to study it, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. The SingUp! scheme of work is used from EYFS to year 6 to ensure a wide exposure to different genres of music, with lots of practical opportunities to explore and develop as musicians and singers, however children in Reception and Year 2 have enhanced music provision delivered by an external provider; Rainbow Rhyme. This allows the children to understand the different principles of each method of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument. 

SingUp! supports a fully integrated approach to music development, connecting the interrelated strands of singing, playing, improvising, composing, and performance.   

The progression map from SingUp! ensures all interrelated elements of music are covered and implemented. This ensures that children are given the opportunity to learn and acquire appropriate skills in music which are progressive across all year groups.  The link to the progression map can be seen further down this page.

Impact

Whilst at Moorcroft Wood, children have access to a varied musical programme (SingUp!), which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas that they might like to improve upon. Progress is assessed throughout the year and is used to track the development and knowledge of our pupil’s musical ability using the SingUp! assessment documents. Children are able to access fundamental abilities such as achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others and self-reflection. They also have the opportunity to discuss and share their own thoughts and opinions, acknowledging that their opinion might differ from others. Music will also develop an understanding of culture, history and ethics from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music as a listener, performer and creator.  Please see the link further down this page for an overview of the topics covered by each year group.

The EYFS key skills and progression documents outline how children's skills in the area of 'Expressive Arts and Design' develop throughout their time in EYFS.  This is the area of learning within EYFS that shares many strong links with Music, however the areas of learning within EYFS are so interlinked that musical skills are evidenced in other areas.  For further information about the skills progression within other EYFS areas of learning, please visit the EYFS page - the link is below.  

The children really enjoyed taking part in the African Drumming workshop which was organised as part of Diversity Week (May 2023).

Year 5 children enjoyed taking part in the African Carnival event at Walsall Art Gallery.  The children performed a song called 'The Windrush Anthem' which celebrates the contribution that people from the Caribbean have made to British society. 

We are very lucky to have music delivered to Reception children by Sarah from Rainbow Rhyme.  The children really look forward to Sarah's lessons where they learn to use musical vocabulary such as 'piano' and 'forte', keep beats and rhythms using the claves and other instruments and listen to Sarah play live music on a variety of instruments such as the Chinese violin (erhu) and flute. 

Sarah also delivers music to children in The Nest and Year 2. 

Children from key stage 2 were very excited to take part in Young Voices 2024 in Birmingham.  The Young Voices choir experience is unlike any other with the children singing along side 8000 children from other schools in front of a large audience of family and friends. 

Children from year 4 took part in the Lighthouse Federation Music concert at Walsall Arena.  The children performed 'A Sky Full of Stars' by Coldplay and 'Lean on Me' by Bill Withers. They did and excellent job and we are extremely proud of them for having the courage to sing in front of such a large audience.  

If you want further information about the curriculum content your child is covering please call the school office to arrange an appointment to see the subject leader.