We are delighted and very excited to announce that North Bradley Primary School have achieved the Music Mark Award for 2022 – 2023 in recognition of our high-quality music education. Wiltshire Music Connect have recognised the value that we place on Music within our school. Please read on to find out all about music education and musical opportunities within our school!

Mrs Sarah Brewer

Music Teacher and Music Lead

Music education at North Bradley C of E Primary School is designed to enable our pupils to be invigorated, stimulated and fascinated by music. Through creation, evaluation and analysis of a range of musical genres, we aim to ensure that every pupil is able to explore their own musical talents in a variety of ways.  

Intent

At North Bradley School, we want to:

• make music a pleasurable activity which can provide fulfilment throughout life
• create and develop a curiosity for music and appreciate and respect the importance of all types of music and the impact music can have on any individual and their lives
• create an appreciation of music which is heightened by understanding
• develop knowledge of the work of a range of musicians and composers to contribute to the pupils’ cultural understanding
• enable pupils to sing, play, compose, perform, evaluate and analyse music from a range of stimuli, styles and genres
• understand the importance of music within the wider community and to use their musical skills and knowledge to apply these in a variety of ways.

Implementation

At North Bradley, we use the Charanga Musical School to teach the national curriculum for music.

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
• learn to sing and use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

The in-depth Charanga Music scheme ensures that pupils are exposed to all of the above national curriculum requirements. The scheme also has a vast library of resources and it creates a wide spectrum of experiences that enable pupils to become immersed in music. It also provides opportunities for pupils to continue learning, exploring and developing their music skills at home with their families, through a platform called ‘Yumu’. This has exciting learning packages and assignments for pupils to access, any day of the week.

The Charanga scheme is also accessed by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS follows the ‘Development Matters in the EYFS’ guidance which aims for all children in Foundation Stage to access ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ by the end of the academic year. It is important that pupils have regular opportunities to engage with the arts. The quality and variety of what pupils see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

The music curriculum is embedded throughout the school within other musical opportunities too. North Bradley provides:

• weekly singing assemblies where hymns are practised in relation to our assemblies and Christian values
• various concerts to perform in. Pupils at North Bradley are encouraged to perform musically from the moment that they enter our school. Our Key Stage one classes and Reception class, all participate in our annual Christmas musical. These have ranged from ‘The Donkey Seller’ to ‘Christmas Counts’. At Easter, Years 3 and 4 perform a musical which is based on the Easter Story. In the Summer Term, Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6) work together to do a musical performance, ranging from ‘Pirates from Penzance’ to ‘Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat’. Other performance opportunities arise throughout the school calendar, from singing in our church services to our end of year music tuition celebration. We also participate in the Trowbridge Schools singing celebration concert performed at the Civic Centre every summer and we have very recently performed at the Young Voices Choir concert on 9th January 2023, at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham. It is the largest school choir in the world!
• the learning of instruments. We have a good range of pitched instruments, including a class set of ukuleles and glockenspiels and also a variety of unpitched instruments. The pupils are provided opportunities to explore, compose, improvise and perform using these instruments. The ukuleles are taught to Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 twice a year, using the Charanga scheme of work and the ‘First Access’ scheme. Playing these instruments enables pupils to understand musical notation in different forms, experience improvisation and composition and to experience the ‘fun’ element of playing together and making music.

To further enrich the pupil’s musical experiences, a range of extra-curricular activities are available to them. At North Bradley, we offer a range of music tuition which include piano, flute, ukulele, violin and recorder led by our Music lead and peripatetic teacher Mrs Sarah Brewer. Mrs Gemma Tucker teaches the saxophone, flute and recorder, Mr Ben Jones teaches the guitar and Ms Samantha Evans teaches voice.

Impact

Through following our music scheme, our pupils, by the end of KS2, will have gained a range of skills and knowledge and will have accessed a varied, rich programme of study.

Pupils will be able to play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments, with accuracy, fluency, control and expression. Pupils will be able to improvise and compose music for a range of purposes and use/understand musical notations. They will be able to listen to music in detail and recall sounds accurately. Pupils will also be able to appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality music drawn from different genres and musicians. They will also develop an understanding of the history of music.

Pupils will have developed a high-quality music education where they have become inspired to develop a passion and love of music. They will gain in self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement as well as becoming talented musicians.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study