Music at Titchfield Primary school is intended to be expressive, enjoyable and engaging.  It forms an important part of our curriculum and is used in class and in whole school assemblies.  It provides our children with opportunities to develop all of the STRIVE learning values and, most importantly, it is fun!  Through music, children will develop their confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Music is a universal language and reflects emotions and milestones in our lives. 

We have adopted and adapted the Hampshire Music Service (HMS) curriculum plans which provide lessons for all classes at our school.  These rich plans cover all the dimensions of music including: duration, timbre, pitch, texture, structure, dynamics and tempo.  Music is taught by class teachers.  Wherever possible, these units will link to our curriculum projects to enrich the wider curriculum.  For example, in Year 5, the children will have music units linked to Space and Anglo Saxons in the Autumn term.  However, there are times when we have made the decision to use a discreet unit which provides a better opportunity to learn a particular skill.  For example, the first half of the summer term in Year 5 is a unit entitled ‘Read, Write and Remember to Twinkle’ where children will learn notation. 

These plans are supported by a clear progression of skills where each of the dimensions build upon one another year after year from a child’s first day at school to their last.  This document supports teachers to recognise what children already know and the skills they are developing.  Each year group has a Pathway to Musical Independence (P2MI) and there is a clear progression from reliance to independence which works through identification of the learning, exploring the learning and then applying the understanding.  The assessment is made against the taught knowledge and skills in each unit plan. 

It is important for all children at Titchfield Primary School to have the opportunity to learn instruments.  Across Years 3,4 and 5, children will have a whole term learning the Steel Pans from a peripatetic teacher.  In Year 6, children will have a term of learning the ukulele using an internet resource.

Singing is a central to music at Titchfield Primary School and is learnt, rehearsed and performed in every year group.  In addition to the taught curriculum, children have a weekly singing assembly either in their key stage or in class.  These provide opportunities for group performance and strengthens our school community.  Children perform songs at different points throughout the year.  For example, at Christmas, Year R, 1 and 2 have a nativity and Key Stage 2 have a Carol Concert all of which contain singing. 

Music across a range of genres is shared in class and in assembly from the ‘Year of Listening’ resource from HMS is used as the foundation for listening and evaluating across the year.  Classical composers right through to modern pop music with everything in between is shared with the children.  As a school, we also find ways of sharing live music to children.  In the past this has included live bands in assembly as well as taking groups of children to the Hampshire Primary Proms orchestral concert. 

As a school we are fortunate enough to have our own music room.  This space has a range of instruments to explore and use as well as the space to explore dynamics away from other classes!  Children enjoy using the music room and have access our ukuleles, steel pans, untuned instruments and percussion instruments.