Music

Music is at the heart of many things that we do at Bradshaw. It is a highly valued subject that plays a huge part in the sense of community at school, from the moment a child walks through the gate in the morning. Our curriculum is not all about singing, but a lot of it is! This is due to the benefits of singing in relation to overall health. (For more information please visit https://www.singupfoundation.org/singing-health)

Our curriculum is underpinned by Sing Up Music (https://www.singup.org/) but enhanced with other evidence based approaches in order to ensure a rounded, progressive curriculum, broken down into small chunks, is accessed by all children at Bradshaw, from Pre-School to Year 6.

Jolly Music

In Pre-School, the tried and tested principles of Zoltan Kodaly are effectively used in the Jolly Music structured and progressive programme. Through a repertoire based on playground rhymes and songs, children become aware of musical elements including pulse, rhythm, pitch, loudness and speed. The singing lessons are carefully structured to build the key musical skills of listening, singing in tune, inner hearing,

Sing Up

The Sing Up programme is also gradually introduced in addition to Jolly Music in EYFS in order for children to make more music, think more musically and become more musical.

Sing Up covers a broad and diverse range of repertoire, approaches and musical traditions. It supports a fully-integrated approach to musical development, connecting the interrelated strands of singing, playing, improvising, composing, listening and appraising.

As with all subjects at Bradshaw, even the practical ones, there is a strong focus on vocabulary acquisition, encouraging children to be able to describe what they hear and enabling them to build on their declarative knowledge and cultural literacy. All of the elements of a Bradshaw lesson are included in a music lesson; sequencing and modelling, questioning, reviewing material and stages of practice.

Units of work are grouped into the elements Sing and Play, Listen, Compose, with a clear progression of knowledge and skills, however, all of the interrelated strands are interleaved within the units to build a spiral progression to ensure skills are revisited and built upon.

Important information that is required to progress is identified from each lesson, ensuring ALL children can access lessons and make good progress.

SEND

Music is for everyone, however an important role of teachers is to take steps to remove barriers to music making for those children with SEND.

Teachers assess the potential barriers and make plans for adaptations when required. Examples of adaptations include creating smaller chunks when learning and reading words to a song, considering language development, call and response with increased use of “I do – you do”, more repetition, adaptations to instruments (including providing quieter instruments), adaptation of rhythms and notes and ensuring a consistent structure and routine to lessons is maintained throughout school.

Assessment

Learning is assessed throughout lessons in the form of feedback designed to enable children to make even more progress.

In addition, Sing Up includes progression snapshot lessons for each year group from Year 1 to 6. One song for each year group is introduced in Week 3 of Term 1 and is revisited and developed in Term 2 and Term 3. Each snapshot is designed with a very clear focus. The activities are videoed and provide evidence to inform the teacher’s general impressions of how children are achieving in line with musical learning statements over time.

The assessment observations are all fed back to the subject leader in order to inform and monitor the curriculum.

PCornet

At Bradshaw, we believe that children should not only be given opportunities to learn the basics of playing a musical instrument but should a child show particular flair for that instrument, we should provide opportunities to develop the skill. After an introduction to PBuzz in Year 2, all children in Year 3 progress to small group lessons learning the PCornet with our own, in house, brass specialist. We believe that through this approach, we will be able to develop skills, for those who wish, in the remaining 3 years of primary school.

Instrumental Lessons

Children have opportunities to take instrumental lessons individually or in small groups provided by Calderdale Music Trust. Instruments currently offered are piano, violin, recorder, flute, clarinet and saxophone.

Whole School Singing

Children at Bradshaw sing every day, without fail. This is a protected time in the timetable.

Using the Sing Up Song Bank, 2 songs are selected each week (1 in EYFS). Each class practices the songs in class, with their teacher and also in weekly singing assemblies, where opportunities are taken by music leaders to teach and re-inforce other singing skills (eg part singing) and provide class teachers with examples of good practice for singing sessions. Singing is at the very heart of Bradshaw. You will be able to hear these Sing Up songs at the school gate each morning.

Mr Lewis Singing Competition

A bi-annual event, this school competition involves every child at Bradshaw. Each class rehearses and then performs their own choice of song that they have learned from the Sing Up Song Bank. Heats are held to identify a winning class from each Key Stage, followed by a Grand Final to find the winning class. As well as the prestige of winning the title and the Mr Lewis Singing Cup, the winning class from the Autumn competition, goes on to represent Bradshaw, along with Bradshaw Choir, at the Mrs Sunderland Festival in February the following year.

Choir Curriculum Overview Curriculum Outcomes Mapping EYFS Rhymes

Sing Up Progression Snap Shots Strategies and Support for pupils in music lessons

Music at Bradshaw Outcomes Mapping Skills Progression Overview

Bradshaw Primary School Music Development Plan 2024