Intent
At Rayleigh Primary School, we aim to foster a life-long love of music and develop a passion and curiosity for the subject in our pupils by exposing them to diverse musical experiences. We want children to understand and accept the validity and importance of all types of music and have an unbiased respect for the role that music may take in any person’s life.  Music can feed the soul and provide emotional connections, and we strive to teach our children to be able to appreciate the power of listening to and playing music. Children will gain an understanding of the value and importance of music in the wider community and will be able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music in a variety of different contexts. 

Implementation

At Rayleigh Primary School our pupils have weekly music lessons, taught by a dedicated music instructor, as well as a wide range of musical experiences open to them.

Our ‘Kapow’ curriculum takes a holistic approach in which the strands of performing, listening, composing, the history and the inter-related dimensions are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences. The taught units are designed to capture pupils’ imaginations and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically. 

Children are taught to sing fluently and expressively and to play tuned and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They learn to recognise the inter-related dimensions of music - pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure - and use these expressively in their own improvisations and compositions.

In addition to their lessons, the children have a singing assembly each week and exposure to music in other assemblies, too. Children in Year 4 have professional tuition on the ukulele and all children have the opportunity to receive guitar tuition (peripatetic tuition). 

After school clubs include glockenspiel, keyboard and ukulele as well as our KS2 choir. Members of the choir perform at events such as the Junior Music Festival at the Cliffs Pavillion, the Rayleigh Christmas Light Switch-On event and the Young Voices concert at the O2. All KS2 children visit Holy Trinity Church each Christmas for a carol concert whilst the KS1 children perform a Nativity performance and the EYFS children host a Christmas Concert.

Impact
Our children are engaged and excited by our music curriculum.  The knowledge and techniques that they are taught equip them with a range of skills to enable them to appreciate and engage with music throughout their lives. Children become confident performers, composers and listeners, able to express themselves musically at school and beyond. Pupils develop an appreciation and respect for a range of music from a variety of genres across a variety of generations as they progress throughout our music curriculum, enabling them to meet the expectations outlined at the end of each key stage for the national curriculum.