Music Curriculum

Intent

At Parkside Community Primary School, our Music curriculum aims to inspire pupils to develop a lifelong love of music and to recognise themselves as musicians. Rooted in our vision of “Nurturing and Inspiring Young Minds Toward a Bright Future”, pupils learn to perform, listen to, appraise, improvise and compose with increasing confidence. Through the Kapow Primary Music scheme, pupils experience a broad, progressive curriculum that supports the key aims of the National Curriculum: singing and using their voices, playing tuned and untuned instruments, listening with understanding, composing and improvising, using musical notation and exploring how music is created, produced and communicated.

We intend that by the end of their time at Parkside pupils will:

• Perform confidently using their voices and instruments, developing accuracy, fluency, control and expression in solo, group and ensemble contexts. 

• Listen to, appraise and evaluate a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music from different traditions, genres, styles, historical periods and cultures. 

• Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes, selecting and combining sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and notation. 

• Develop musical knowledge and cultural understanding through the Kapow scheme, learning about significant composers, musicians, performers and musical traditions from the past and present, including music from different communities around the world. 

Implementation

Our Music curriculum is delivered through the Kapow Primary Music scheme and is underpinned by Parkside's Teaching, Learning and Assessment and Live Feedback Policy: 

Curriculum sequencing and lesson structure 

Kapow units are sequenced using a spiral curriculum model so pupils regularly revisit and build upon musical knowledge and skills. Across the school, pupils develop in the key strands of performing, listening and appraising, composing, improvising, notation and understanding the history and cultural context of music. 

Lessons follow a clear structure: retrieval of prior musical learning; introduction of key vocabulary and listening examples; modelling of singing, instrumental or compositional skills; guided practice; creative exploration; performance; and reflection using musical terminology. 

Teaching and scaffolding 

Teachers explicitly teach musical vocabulary including pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure, notation, melody, harmony, ostinato, composition, improvisation and performance, using Kapow videos, demonstrations, listening tasks and practical modelling. 

Musical skills are broken into small, taught steps, for example: keeping a steady pulse; copying and creating rhythms; singing with expression; playing tuned and untuned instruments; reading graphic, rhythmic and staff notation; improvising short ideas; composing within a structure; and performing with increasing accuracy and confidence. 

Kapow provides opportunities for pupils to explore music from different genres, traditions, cultures and historical periods. Pupils learn to respect and appreciate a wide range of musical styles and to understand how music can reflect identity, community, place and time. 

Assessment for learning and retrieval practice 

Low-stakes checks are used throughout lessons to revisit key vocabulary, listening knowledge, rhythmic and melodic patterns, notation, instrumental technique and understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music. 

Unit-end outcomes may include performances, compositions, improvisations, recorded musical ideas, notation tasks, listening responses and pupil evaluations. These are used to assess both musical knowledge and practical skills, including performing, listening, composing, improvising, notation and musical understanding. 

Live feedback  

Teachers give immediate, subject-specific feedback during lessons focused on improving musical outcomes, such as keeping in time, singing with clearer pitch, improving instrumental control, using dynamics expressively, refining compositions, reading notation accurately or performing confidently as part of an ensemble. 

Where pupils are rehearsing, composing or performing, teachers use live conferencing to question musical choices, model improvement, support pupils to listen critically and encourage them to refine their work while retaining creative ownership. 

Live feedback is recorded briefly on the class planning grid: who received conferencing, the focus of the feedback, and the next musical, technical or creative step required. 

Inclusion and adaptation 

Universal high-quality teaching is the first approach; additional scaffolds such as visual prompts, simplified notation, call-and-response modelling, adapted instruments, body percussion, peer support, repeated listening and alternative ways to record musical ideas ensure pupils with SEND and EAL can access the full Music curriculum. 

Curriculum choices actively promote inclusion by ensuring pupils encounter music from a diverse range of cultures, traditions and communities, enabling all pupils to see music as a shared, expressive and inclusive art form. 

Monitoring, moderation and CPD 

Subject leaders monitor Kapow planning, pupil voice, lesson visits, performance opportunities, recordings, compositions and assessment evidence to check progression in singing, playing, listening, composing, improvising, notation and musical vocabulary. 

Findings inform a concise action plan and targeted CPD, for example strengthening staff confidence with musical vocabulary, improving singing provision, developing instrumental teaching, supporting assessment or embedding Kapow resources consistently across year groups. 

Success measures 

Pupils demonstrate increasing confidence, independence and control when singing, playing instruments, listening, improvising, composing, reading notation and evaluating music. 

Performances, compositions, recordings, notation tasks and listening responses show progression in musical knowledge and skills from KS1 to KS2. 

Pupil voice shows that children can talk about music using appropriate vocabulary and can explain how musical features such as pitch, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure affect what they hear, perform and compose.

Impact

At Parkside Community Primary School our Music curriculum ensures pupils leave as confident, creative and reflective musicians. Because our curriculum is skills-led, knowledge-rich and delivered through the Kapow Primary scheme, pupils learn to sing, play, compose, improvise, listen and evaluate with increasing musical understanding. 

What this looks like in practice and the difference it makes 

Pupils can use appropriate musical vocabulary to describe what they hear, perform and create, making links between their own music and music from different genres, traditions, cultures, historical periods and composers. 

By the end of each key stage pupils produce increasingly secure musical outcomes: expressive singing, pulse and rhythm work, simple instrumental playing and sound exploration in KS1; more accurate ensemble performance, composition, improvisation, notation and informed listening by the end of KS2. 

Classroom retrieval, listening tasks, performances, compositions, improvisations and notation activities show clear progression in pupils’ ability to understand, create, communicate and evaluate music. 

Live, subject-focused feedback improves pupils’ musical accuracy, confidence and expression; pupils use feedback to rehearse, refine and improve performances, compositions and improvisations. 

Through the Kapow Music scheme, pupils experience music as creative, collaborative and culturally rich. They learn that music can connect people, tell stories, express identity, build confidence and bring communities together through singing, listening, composing and performing.