Music at Bishop Bronescombe

At Bishop Bronescombe, we want to create a passion for music in our children that will stay with them in their future lives. We want to ensure that music is an inspiring and engaging experience that enables every child to develop their musical potential and develops an appreciation of the value of music that is deeply personal to them. We want children to have a curiosity for the subject and a respect for the role that music may play in any person’s life.

We endeavour to provide a variety of musical experiences through a curriculum which develops learning, improves knowledge and promotes pupil well-being through building up the confidence of all children. Music can impact the way that children feel, think and act; we want music to encourage the body and mind to work together, develop motor skills and allow self-expression.

As a Christian school, our core values are at the heart of everything we do. We want our children to show their understanding of those values through music and to use music as a tool to become courageous advocates, highlighting issues that are important to them. We also want to ensure children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and encourage them to use their musical skills, knowledge and experience to involve themselves and others in music.

The implementation of our intent is planned using the Charanga Music Scheme. Charanga is designed to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum. It provides wide exposure to musical styles and genres from different times and places and promotes the exploration of the language of music through active listening, performing and composing activities.

Each unit follows a sequence of learning: listen and appraise, interrelated dimensions of music,          singing, playing Instruments, improvisation, composition, perform and share. This approach ensures the children get a rich learning experience covering all aspects of music.

There is a clear progression of skills and knowledge to accompany each unit that sets out exactly how the children progress throughout the year and year on year.

Knowledge organisers provide a foundation for the learning for each topic and include - vocabulary, genre, style, instrumental parts for improvisation and composition, listening and appraising, musical dimensions.

In addition to the scheme, children are given the opportunity to learn to play musical instruments including Glockenspiels, Recorders and Ukuleles.

We also provide further musical opportunities for pupils through extra curricular activities such as choir and performing arts clubs, as well as peripatetic musical instrument lessons.  

Children develop an understanding of culture and history in relation to themselves individually, their local music heritage and music from ethnicities from around the world. We monitor the impact of our curriculum through deep dives, pupil voice exercises, watching back performance videos and teaching and learning observations.