Performing Arts and Music
"Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand."
Stevie Wonder
Intent
Music is a universal language and, at Manor Drive Primary Academy, we believe it’s something every child can enjoy and benefit from. Music is for everyone—whether it’s learning to play an instrument, singing songs from memory, or expressing emotions and ideas through music.
We want our children to experience a rich variety of music, from live and recorded performances, spanning different cultures, decades, and styles from around the world. Through playing instruments, singing, and composing, children not only express themselves creatively but also develop key life skills like perseverance, resilience, and teamwork - values we emphasise within our school’s learning toolkit.
Every child will have the chance to learn a musical instrument during their time with us. The benefits go far beyond music itself. Research shows that playing an instrument can boost skills in maths and science, improve memory, and enhance overall academic progress. It also builds confidence, patience, and self-discipline while fostering teamwork and social skills when playing as part of a group.
We are passionate about ensuring all our children experience the joy and power of music, helping them grow creatively, socially and academically.
Implementation
Our Music curriculum ensures students sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. It is embedded in classroom activities as well as weekly singing assemblies, which thoroughly enrich the school community by providing a sense of togetherness and fun. These assemblies, as well as extracurricular opportunities, such as school choir and visiting musicians, provide an opportunity to discuss techniques for learning music aurally, vocal techniques and lyrical content. Children are also inspired through opportunities to watch music being performed collaboratively through activities organised by Peterborough Music Hub. The interrelated dimensions of music are taught in classroom lessons, often supported by a resource called Charanga, so that children are able to use the language of music to discuss, appreciate and analyse music. Our Music curriculum develops an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, and ethnicities from across the world.
Key features of our implementation include:
-
Holistic Approach: Music is used not only as a subject to learn but also as a tool for broader learning, emphasising creativity, reflection, and problem-solving.
-
Supportive Resources: Staff are supported by the Charanga scheme, which ensures high-quality teaching with carefully sequenced lessons that deepen understanding of key concepts. We have invested in a large bank of tuned and untuned instruments to support delivery of the music curriculum.
-
Skill Development: Pupils build a broad range of artistic skills with clear progression, which are revisited in future units and built upon sequentially. During music lessons, we teach subject-specific vocabulary which we encourage children to learn and use through regular revisiting.
-
Curriculum Structure: Music is taught in half-term units; each unit focusses on specific skills and explores the work of different musicians and genres, ensuring that pupils engage with a variety of techniques and approaches across all key stages.
-
Showcasing Work: Each unit of work culminates in a ‘performance’ so that children can showcase their musical skill and learning.
-
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): In Early Years, music is woven into the curriculum through Expressive Arts and Design. Children develop key musical skills, such as attentive listening, pitch matching, and singing melodic shapes. They learn to remember and sing entire songs, create their own tunes, and play instruments with increasing control. Through music, children express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas, responding to what they hear by moving to and talking about the sounds.
-
Assessment: By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study. We assess on an ongoing basis based on conversation to discover intention and understanding, as well as observing children’s outcomes of the journey through each unit and their performance skills.
Impact
Over their time at Manor Drive, our pupils will be given the skills and knowledge to understand the impact that music can have on our lives and cultures and how it can play an integral role in our emotional wellbeing. We aim to give children high aspirations, which will enable them to foster a lifelong love for music and the confidence to continue to play and enjoy music in their adult lives.
