At Barwic Parade, we want to open up the world to our pupils, and music plays an important part in this. It is a universal language that everyone can understand. It is academic, physical and emotional.

Through their engagement in music lessons, we intend that our pupils will:

• sharpen their cognitive skills and increase their capacity to perform tasks that require sustained attention and careful listening and reading
• increase their collaborative skills through performing in groups
• develop their imagination and intellectual curiosity
• become more emotionally developed, empathic towards others and be better equipped to cope with negative emotions

We believe that children’s brains are muscles that need to be used and strengthened – that every child has the capacity to learn. Music study can help to build bridges between pieces of information within children’s working and long-term memory, resulting in their learning being more permanent.

At Barwic Parade, the music curriculum is delivered by Sing Education, a specialist provider. The curriculum aligns with the principles of the Model Music Curriculum, ensuring that pupils receive a high-quality, balanced, and inclusive music education. The school is partnered with the Richard Shepherd Music Foundation, which supports the use of Sing Education to deliver music lessons and extra-curricular activities across the school. This partnership also provides access to a wider range of musical experiences.

Pupils receive 45 minutes to 1 hour of specialist music provision each week, as well as taking part in a 30-minute weekly singing assembly. Daily Collective Worships also feature an opportunity to sing when entering and leaving the assembly, covering a range of different genres, styles, and composers.

Within lessons, pupils cover the relevant curriculum objectives delivered by a specialist music teacher and experience a range of hands-on, fun activities to enhance their learning. Pupils are given the opportunity to play tuned and untuned instruments, including glockenspiels, recorders, ukuleles, drums, and untuned percussion. Singing is a large part of the Sing Education curriculum, and children sing in every lesson.

There are many extra-curricular singing opportunities for pupils, including Young Voices, the Gabrieli Roar choir, the Christmas choir, and a Thursday ensemble group. These groups provide valuable experiences for pupils to develop their vocal skills and perform alongside highly trained vocalists.

Musical opportunities are also built into other subjects across the curriculum where there are strong and relevant links to be made. Key Stage 1 children perform in a Christmas nativity each December, year 3/4 give a performance at Easter and year 5/6 give a performance at the end of the school year, all allowing children the opportunity to develop their vocal performances.

Within the Early Years, music is an integral part of the curriculum as it develops crucial listening skills. As such, it is taught through Phase 1 phonics sessions, as well as discreet teaching sessions. The children also have regular access to music-based areas of provision in which to practice and embed their skills and learning. Both Nursery and Reception children also take part in a Christmas performance for their parents.

The partnership with the Richard Shepherd Music Foundation has been instrumental in providing access to a wider range of musical experiences for the school, including the Gabrieli Roar concert, where pupils have the opportunity to sing alongside professional vocalists and gain an understanding of instruments, performance, and conducting. 

Due to the nature of music, evaluation of the subject content is through observation by leaders of lessons, evidence uploaded to our secure school network and final performances. Specialist teachers will formatively access progress and attainment in music using Sonar Tracker after each taught unit and then input summative data at the end of the academic year. 

Further to this, pupil conferencing takes place to find out how well pupils can discuss elements of music outside the music lesson to check the retention of key vocabulary and understanding of content covered.