You will find a summary of our music curriculum on our website.

Our Rivers music curriculum has been written by specialists in the subject using the National Curriculum and the Model Music Curriculum (2021). There is a trust Rivers music subject leader group to continue to develop and support all schools in the trust and schools are encouraged to collaborate for various events and opportunities.

The intention of our curriculum is to help children to feel that they are musical and to develop a lifelong love of music.

Children have 1 hour of classroom music per week.

By the end of their journey in music at our school pupils will:

• Understand how music has changed over time.
• Be able to perform using their voices and a range of musical instruments
• Be able to listen and appraise a range of musical pieces and styles
• Know how to compose and improvise
• Know how to read simple musical notation and use a range of musical terms.
• Know and name some great composer and musicians and the time period they influenced.

The structure of our music curriculum has the following elements:

• Units at the start of the year use the BBC Ten pieces resources designed to open up the world of classical music to children. They involve being inspired and exploring a piece of music and using this to create their own compositions.
• Units at the end of the year have been written to focus on World Music Heritage. This is where we use music to make links between different times and places to ensure that our children can see how music influences us in different ways and across generations. They also bring together learning from earlier in the year or previous years to ensure prior knowledge is built on and connected.
• Other units in the years focus on a theme, musical genre or time period to develop musical skills. We have sequenced these so that children have a breadth of experiences. These units are sometimes adapted from Kapow or Charanga schemes of work.
• At the start of every music lesson we use a warm up song. This song is developed over a unit of work. The songs have been chosen carefully to ensure progression in singing skills as well as a range of musical styles and traditions.
• Musical elements such as pitch, dynamics, timbre and visited multiple times in year groups and over the years. Each time the children work with an element of music their knowledge is deepened and broadened through different contexts.
• Performance opportunities- each unit has 2 opportunities to perform, once with the warm up song and once with the outcome of the unit. These performances can be on a small or large scale. All children have multiple opportunities to perform during their time in school.
• EYFS- music in the foundation stage is an integral part of our approach to Expressive Arts and Being Imaginative. Music contributes to a child’s personal and social development. A range of approaches are used including singing at various points in the day, short whole class sessions, group sessions and continuous provision, both inside and outside.

The following are the opportunities to learn to play an instrument during music lesson time at our school.

• In Year 5, all children learn to play the ukelele
• In Year 6, all children learn to play a brass instrument. This builds on the skills they learned in Year 5 and introduces them to another instrument.

We adopt a positive and proactive approach to ensure that children with SEND are able to express themselves and take an active part in music lessons. Adaptations to support this may include visual prompts and scaffolding.

We have a range of partnerships that support our curriculum music offer.

• Severn Arts provide CPD which our staff can attend and provide our whole class music tuition as part of the FAME approach.
• Cheranga provide CPD which our staff can attend and resources to support and enrich our music curriculum.
• We are involved with a project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Teacher Development fund. Part of this project is whole class workshops in body percussion, rap and spoken word with children in our Year 4 classes.

The school may charge for teaching requested by parents and delivered by specialist tutors given to either an individual pupil or groups of any appropriate size (provided that the size of the group is based on sound pedagogical principles) to play a musical instrument or to sing. The cost of these lessons may depend on the size and duration of the class as well as the type of instrument.

The school will not charge if the music tuition is part of the National Curriculum or public examination syllabus being followed by the student. This includes instruments, music books and exam fees.

We are proud to offer individual and small group music tuition in the following areas. This is provided by teachers from Severn Arts and Sam Walker Music.

• Acoustic guitar
• Electric guitar
• Violin
• Keyboard
• Drums
• Singing
• Any other instrument of choice e.g. cello, flute, cornet, clarinet.

Prices range from £11 to £15 for a 20 minute individual lesson and £4.25 to £7.50 for a 20 or 30 minute small group lesson. Tuition can be subsidised for pupils with pupil premium eligibility. Severn Arts also encourage families who are unable to meet the full cost of their services to visit their website for information about help with costs.

We offer free small group music tuition for Year 4 pupils in guitar and singing.

Pupils showcase their learning at concerts for parents and carers at the end of each term.

We also have a school choir which offers the opportunity for children to make and enjoy music in ensembles. Choir is for pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6 and is free to join. The choir rehearse after school once a week. Pupils are given the opportunity to perform at a variety of events and locations e.g. Young Voices, school events, PTA fundraising events and local care homes.

The following musical experiences are planned for the academic year:

• Live musical theatre performers coming into school.
• Choir performing at the Young Voices concert at Genting Arena in Birmingham.
• Music as part of our school events e.g. Nativity plays and end of year shows.
• Music concerts each term by pupils who have instrumental lessons.
• Burlish Has Got Talent – auditions and show in the spring term.
• A project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Teacher Development fund. Part of this project is whole class workshops in body percussion, rap and spoken word with children in our Year 4 classes.
• Music in routines e.g. classroom routines, singing assemblies.

Three things that Burlish Park Primary School would like to improve in the coming years:

• Increased numbers of pupils engaged in extra-curricular music.
• CPD for class teachers.
• Links with further external music organisations.