Music

What is our overarching curriculum intent including link to TKAT ‘achieving more together’ and what do you intend students leave Bridgemary School with?

We intend that our curriculum supports our Trust ambition of ‘achieving more together’.  We do this by developing the musical ability of all students through a wide range of musical ability, performance, and composition skills. Students are exposed to a variety of music genres, musical styles from around the world, and time periods in history. As the students journey through the curriculum they are supported in developing their own curiosity of music and the work and life of a musician and jobs within the music industry. 

What is the structural intent of the subject curriculum, & how is it sequenced so that students know and remember more?

The curriculum across all subjects is carefully sequenced so that prior core declarative and procedural knowledge is built upon, with continual opportunities for core knowledge to be interleaved throughout both key stages so that students know more, remember more and can apply that knowledge in a range of contexts.  Facilitating knowledge adds important local, national, and global context to core knowledge, and our curriculum intends to provide a richness and diversity that enables our students to experience learning in real life contexts.

How do any school values and focuses influence or feed through the curriculum?

The school curriculum is built on 4 aims to ensure our students receive and are able to access it fully, those being:

• Reading and comprehension that aims to ensure all students leave with a reading age at least equivalent to their chronological age
• Our school ethos of Be Kind, Work Hard, Be the Best Version of Yourself
• A deepening understanding of core and facilitating knowledge that enables students to know and remember more
• A wide appreciation of the world that we live in, and the celebration of the diversity this brings

In music we support these aims by delivering a curriculum structure with a variety of activities to encourage the love of music. Students within music are exposed to musical language from their first lesson which provides them with a foundation of confidence and inspiration to explore and express themselves within the music classroom. Students are encouraged to discover and be aware of the world around them via music and studying different cultures. Overall, the music curriculum is highly practical in order to provide students with maximum opportunities to improve and develop their skills as a musician. Through the music curriculum students learn transferable skills to help them with their everyday life including; independence, organisation, leadership, team work, resilience, and ownership. The music curriculum helps students to prepare for a career in the performing arts industry. We aim to help students develop their skills to become a musician and transferable skills for any career path.     

What is our intent to assess how well students access the curriculum and how the school intends to adapt the curriculum to close gaps in knowledge?

To ensure any gaps in prior or new knowledge are quickly identified, we check progress frequently through a range of assessment opportunities, from lesson-by-lesson declarative knowledge tests, end of topic tests that assess knowledge retention and application, to more cumulative common assessments that assess students’ ability to remember and apply knowledge in a range of contexts.  The information from these assessments are used to adapt the curriculums intending to quickly close gaps in knowledge and keep students on track to achieve at our ambitious academic flight paths.

The curriculum we intend to deliver to students at each Key Stage:

At KS3 the students are introduced to basic piano skills and key elements of music including; tempo, pitch, dynamics, structure, and timbre. The skills developed and learnt within the first term help the students with a basic understanding of performing and basic composition skills. Students will move onto learning Brit Pop, Mali West African Drumming, and The Great Composers,  within these schemes of work the students explore the musical elements of each topic. In year 8 students take the skills they learnt from year 7 and apply them whilst learning about the Blues, Rock n’ Roll, and film music. In Year 9 students are taught about 80’s music and how it has influenced music they listen to today. Students will learn how to compose by using variations with the song Faded by Alan Walker , at the end of year 9 students learn how to create a performance and the health and safety aspects of putting on a show.  Each scheme of work ensures the students are using the knowledge and skills they have obtained throughout KS3 and help them to be prepared for KS4.

At KS4 students study BTEC Level 1 / 2 Music practice. This course helps the students become musicians who can plan their development and help them to grow as a musician. The course consists of three components, exploring music products and styles, music skills development and responding to a brief . During the first component; exploring music products and skills, students will research four genres and arrange a portfolio consisting of the sonic features and compositional elements of each genre. The students will also produce three music products showcasing their skills. In the second component of music skills development students will focus on their skills as a performer and a creator of music. The students will keep track of their development and produce two music products lasting 2-4 minutes each. In the final component students will be responding to a brief that is set by the exam board. The students will have to document their development, respond to the stimulus that is provided and develop their knowledge and understanding of health and safety as a performers.  

How does the co-curriculum enhance the curriculum?

We aim to provide students with regular performance opportunities so that they can take pride in their hard work whilst performing in front of big audiences. We also provide many extra-curricular opportunities such as our music club and choir. We work hard to develop the skills of our musicians within extra-curricular clubs to prepare them effectively for the BTEC music course. Students will be invited to attend trips to go and see live professional performances which we hope would inspire by giving students opportunities to see what an ‘outstanding’ level of performance looks like on stage. Students will also take part in workshops led by professional music practitioners to help broaden their experiences outside of the classroom as well as develop their skill level further.