Music

Intent

The intention for Brunel Field Primary has always been to see music as an integrated and integral part of our curriculum. Brunel Field delivers music education as a key part of our children’s development and an integrated subject in our enquiry-based curriculum. This is important to us because we understand that music, singing, and instrument playing can aid the development of children’s overall literacy as well as developing socio-emotional, motor, auditory, language and intellectual skills. We also believe in the importance of music for its own sake and enjoyment. We aim to foster a passion for music in children of all abilities by creating lively, interactive and inclusive lessons. By the end of KS2, we intend for our children to have a working understanding of the 7 interrelated dimensions of music. We also strive to help as many children to learn an instrument as would like to.

Implementation

Our music curriculum is linked as closely as possible to the term’s enquiry subject. Where suitable, our curriculum content is adapted from the Bristol Music Curriculum and integrated with our enquiry based approach to allow children to experience and learn music in a meaningful context. We are also a Music Mark School, a Bristol Music School and an Earthsong school. A passion for music is nurtured almost daily in Reception and built on in Year 1 when children begin to look at music symbols and notation and play instruments in small groups. The Earthsong programme equips our children in Year 2 (Start with Singing) and Year 3 (Start with Playing) with a strong foundation of musical language and playing skills. In Years 4-6, pupils build and develop composition skills, as well as having the opportunity to play Steel Pans, experience being part of a samba drumming ensemble and have the opportunity to experience opera. Teachers also take advantage of incidental opportunities to use and implement Musical Moments cards throughout the year. Music is a strength of the school with high-quality whole-school/key-stage singing each week aiming to further foster a love of music and expose children to hear and sing a broader range of genres. We encourage and support children to learn how to play an instrument in addition to their class music lessons and our commitment to this is shown by the financial subsidy we provide where necessary. On a wider scale, we offer our instrument learners opportunities to play in large, city-wide youth orchestras twice a year. For our choirs, we participate in at least two city-wide public concerts. Additional music support is also provided for our annual Drama Club performance in which all children sing. We encourage all children to approach music learning with a strong sense of teamwork and responsibility. This further embeds our school Core Learning Skills and fosters a collaborative and responsible approach in other aspects of their learning.