St Augustine's Catholic Primary School

At St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, our intention is to provide a quality music curriculum which will inspire our pupils and enable them to reach their full potential. We aim to promote a love of music through singing, playing instruments, composing and performing in front of an audience, both inside and outside of school. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music. We teach them the disciplined skills of recognising pulse and pitch. As the children get older we teach them how to work with others to compose music and perform for an audience. Finally, we ensure every child will have the opportunity to learn to play the keyboard for a year, taught by a music specialist. Through this provision, pupils learn to read music and play as part of an ensemble.

In order to implement the skills outlined in the National Curriculum for Music, we use the Charanga scheme of work. We feel that it complements the curriculum and scaffolds the learning opportunities throughout the Key Stages, allowing for a clear progression in skills. Charanga offers a topic-based approach to support children’s learning in music. A steady progression plan has been built into Charanga, both within each year and from one year to the next, ensuring consistent musical development. Through our use of Charanga, we can ensure that we are fulfilling the aims for musical learning stated in the National Curriculum. Charanga provides a classroom-based, participatory and inclusive approach to music learning. Throughout the scheme, children are actively involved in using and developing their singing voices, using body percussion and whole body actions, and learning to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and others’ music. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform.