Detail |
Information |
| Academic year that this summary covers | 2024-25 |
| Date this summary was published | July 2024 |
| Date this summary will be reviewed | July 2025 |
| Name of the school music lead | Ian Parker |
| Name of school leadership team member with responsibility for music | Ian Parker |
| Name of local music hub | Black Country Music Hub |
This is a summary of how our school delivers music education to all of our pupils across three areas – curriculum music, co-curricular provision and musical experiences – and what changes we are planning in future years. This information is to help pupils and parents or carers to understand what our school offers and who we work with to support our pupils’ music education.
This is about what we teach in lesson time, how much time is spent teaching music and the music awards that pupils can achieve.
At The Bromley Pensnett Primary School, we have developed a bespoke music curriculum, built on the following key principles:
Informed by the Model Music Curriculum (DfE, March 2021), our programmes of study support pupils to progressively develop knowledge and skills across the four key strands of listening, singing, composing and performing. The units studied are designed to enable pupils to create a firm foundation in their music education and provide them with exposure to a diverse range of styles and genres of music representing cultures from around the world. Pupils are taught to listen purposefully to this recorded music to increase their understanding of what they are hearing and express their opinions about the pieces they study. A full overview of the units studied by each year group throughout the academic year can be found here.
In Years 1 to 6, six hours of music curriculum lessons are timetabled during each half-term of the school year (equating to an hour a week on average). During the timetabled music lessons, children develop their singing skills by being taught songs from a range of genres. In Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2), teachers focus on developing pupils’ capacity to sing expressively and creatively. In Key Stage 2 (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6) pupils are taught to sing with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. In order to achieve these outcomes, teachers break songs down in sections to ensure that pupils learn to rehearse diligently in order to improve their singing of the melodies contained within each piece.
Opportunities to play instruments are also frequent during timetabled music curriculum lessons. The glockenspiel is the main tuned instrument that pupils play during these lessons. As with the development of pupils’ singing, teachers use high-quality recordings to provide backing tracks for the children to play along to. The use of glockenspiels offers pupils the opportunity to develop an understanding of how to read music using standard notation. Children learn how pitch and note duration are represented on a stave and use this to play, perform and compose melodies of increasing complexity throughout Key Stage 2, using semi-breves, minims, crotchets, quavers and semi-quavers in combination by Year 6.
At Bromley Pensnett, we believe passionately in providing pupils with the opportunity to learn to play an instrument. We are keen to ensure that this is not tokenistic and that our pupils have sufficient time with the instrument to make meaningful progress. In partnership with Dudley Performing Arts (part of the Black Country Music Hub), we offer pupils in Key Stage 2 the opportunity to learn to play the cornet or trumpet in Years 3 and 4, followed by the clarinet in Years 5 and 6. These whole class instrumental lessons are delivered by specialist teachers in conjunction with our own class teachers, who ensure that the key knowledge, conceptual understanding and skills that are built into our curriculum are delivered through these lessons alongside the specific teaching relating to the learning of the instrument in question. We have chosen this combination of instruments on the basis of their commonalities in terms of their physicality and the musical register within which they operate. In so doing, we are able to offer pupils a degree of variety in their learning without losing continuity in terms of the progression of knowledge and skills.
Support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
Fundamental to our thinking around SEND is the notion that a pupil who may require additional support in English or mathematics, may excel in music. Similarly, there may be pupils who are high attaining in English or mathematics, but require additional support to make progress in music. As such, a key principle for us is to use assessment purposefully in order to identify with accuracy those pupils who require additional support in music lessons. In order to make these accurate assessment judgements in music, staff consider the progress that pupils make in terms of both their retention of music knowledge and their musicality (their capacity to listen, sing, compose and perform skilfully). Some pupils may require more support in one or other of these assessed aspects and as such, supporting SEND in music is multi-dimensional in nature. It is important to note that our assessment processes also enable our staff to identify pupils who perform well in music in order that we can offer them additional opportunities to explore and develop their talents and interests.
School Choir and performance opportunities
All pupils have the opportunity for musical performances within timetabled music lessons, as well as for annual school productions and termly whole school assemblies. Pupils in Key Stage 2 with a particular interest in singing are invited to join our school choir. Sessions take place at lunchtimes and afterschool with focus on learning songs for performances both within school and within the community.
Importantly, in addition to whole class instrumental teaching (WCIT), we also engage the Dudley Performing Arts teachers to teach additional small group lessons for pupils who demonstrate a particular interest or ability for a particular instrument, meaning that theoretically, a pupil who wishes to, could learn trumpet or cornet throughout the entirety of Key Stage 2. We encourage these pupils to engage with opportunities to perform both within school (for example during assemblies) and also within the wider community, in particular through the events organised by the local music hub, such as the annual summer performance in Mary Stevens Park in Stourbridge. On the basis that the school has a significantly above average proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium grant, we do not charge parents and carers for these additional small group lessons; the costs are absorbed by the school’s music budget.
In addition, we run regular lunchtime music clubs involving ensemble groups on guitar and recorder. All pupils in Years 2 to 6 are offered this opportunity. Finally, weekly singing assemblies and our school choir each offer opportunities for regular ensemble singing, focusing on the joy of communal musical expression, but also offering the chance for the further development of knowledge and skills associated with singing.
At Bromley Pensnett, we engage pupils in regular singing activities. Our school choir rehearses regularly, taking part in community events such as the turning on of the Christmas lights in Brierley Hill, as well as the annual ‘Young Voices’ event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
In order to offer all pupils the opportunity for meaningful music performance, we ensure that all classes get the chance to perform, in assembly, one of the songs that they have been learning during their music lessons. This develops pupils’ sense of how to use the space on a stage to support a performance and how to project their voice in a larger environment. The additional benefits of these performances are in the impact that they have on pupils’ confidence and resilience.
At Bromley Pensnett, we are proud to have both a school song and a drb Ignite Multi-Academy-Trust song (written to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Trust’s inception), which our pupils sing regularly in assemblies. In addition to providing a further opportunities for musical performance in school, these songs support our efforts to create a sense of belonging in school for all children as they sing along together:
‘We’re Bromley School, this is our song
We stick together and get along
We always aim high in all we do
If you help me, I’ll help you too’
The Trust song, entitled ‘Ten’, provided an opportunity for children from all of the schools within the Trust to come together to experience a recording studio environment. A visiting sound engineer was able to capture the children singing the song in order to create a promotional pop music video, which proved to be a wonderful experience for the children. This experience has fuelled our desire to create future opportunities for our pupils to record their music compositions and performances in a recording studio setting.
Further musical experiences in school come through our close working partnership with Dudley Performing Arts. Each year, we arrange for pupils in Reception, Key Stage 1 and those being educated in our SEND base, The Orchard’ to experience a musical story-telling event in which high-quality live music performances (by peripatetic brass and string instrument teachers) is combined with the telling of traditional tales.
At Bromley Pensnett, we are ambitious about our music provision. We acknowledge that the creative industries make a significant contribution to the British economy and we are determined to ensure that our pupils are fully equipped for the future, with the foundational knowledge and skills that they will require in order to successfully pursue further study in any area they choose, including music. If Bromley Pensnett pupils are able to go on to future careers in music, we will regard that as a notable success. Beyond that, we also acknowledge the impact that a high-quality music provision has on the overall quality of education. As such, our ambitions for music at Bromley Pensnett are closely married to our ambitions for the overall future success of the school.
Curriculum
We are proud of our bespoke music curriculum at Bromley Pensnett. The systematic collaboration of music leaders within the drb Ignite Multi-Academy-Trust supports ongoing quality assurance and evolution of the curriculum, based on feedback from pupils, teachers and from our assessment processes.
In the next twelve months, we intend to further develop our assessment processes in order to ensure that teachers are able to better identify a) pupils requiring further support in order to achieve well in music and b) the most able musicians in order to make provision for the development of their talents and interests. Our assessment processes in music are designed to evaluate pupil performance in both the retention of music knowledge and in terms of ‘musicality’ (the state of being musical), which we define in terms of pupils’ capacity to listen, sing, perform (including the playing of instruments) and compose with increasing skill, accuracy and expression. Over the next twelve months, we intend to embed mechanisms to support teachers to make accurate assessment judgements in both of these areas.
In the next five years, we intend to work in partnership with our local music hub in order to provide increasingly effective CDP for our teachers to ensure that all pupils benefit from a curriculum delivery that is based on sound subject-specific pedagogical approaches and robust teacher subject knowledge. During this five-year period, we also intend to conduct regular reviews of the range of musical styles and genres that is offered to our pupils through the curriculum, in order to ensure that it remains relevant to the changing demographics of our school community and keeps pace with developments in the wider world of music. Another focus over the next five years will be on further developing the scope of the composition strand of the curriculum offer, in order to facilitate a more in-depth composition project that allows for increasingly meaningful musical expression and the application of pupils’ developing musical knowledge and skills.
Beyond the next five years, we intend to ensure that we support the development of future music leaders from within our staff body, recognising that strong curriculum leadership is vital to the ongoing success of the subject within the school. Sustaining the implementation of our curriculum and our pedagogies will be vital.
Co-curricular
In the next twelve months, we intend to further embed the whole class instrumental teaching of trumpets and clarinets (delivered by our local music hub partners) into our curriculum. We also intend to formalise our small group provision by establishing an instrument loan system to ensure that those children in receipt of this additional tuition have the opportunity to practise at home.
In the next five years, we are hopeful of being able to extend the range of instruments on offer for small group and possibly 1:1 lessons. We intend to review the choice of instruments being taught during whole class instrumental teaching, using a range of data (including pupil voice, staff voice, parent voice and progress measures) to determine whether or not a change is required. Providing opportunities for pupils learning an instrument in small group or 1:1 lessons to sit music exams will also be a priority.
Beyond the next five years, we plan to increase the scope of 1:1 and small group lessons to ensure that more pupils are able to take advantage of this opportunity. We aim to ensure that these pupils have opportunities to formalise their learning by taking grades or achieving other music-related awards to support their development.
Musical experiences
In the next twelve months, we aim to launch assembly singing performances, which will provide the opportunity for every class to perform in front of the school, one of the songs that they have been learning as part of their weekly timetabled music lessons. Where applicable, teachers will be encouraged to support pupils to enhance these performances by adding instrumental elements, most commonly on glockenspiel. In order to lay the foundations for future performance opportunities across the drb Ignite Multi-Academy-Trust, we intend to host concerts across schools within the ‘Dudley Hub’ of the Trust in the summer term of 2025 in order to celebrate the compositional, vocal and performance achievements of pupils in Key Stage 2.
In the next five years, we are determined to provide opportunities for our young instrumentalists to take part in ensemble performances within the community. This will be facilitated through our close partnership with our local music hub, which organises, for example, a summer concert in a nearby public park. Taking full advantage of the ongoing collaboration that takes place within the drb Ignite Multi-Academy-Trust, we are keen to provide opportunities for our pupils to take part in concerts, in some cases hosted in professional music venues, in which the compositional, vocal and performance achievements of the children can be celebrated on a grand scale.
We are also keen to use music as a vehicle to further enhance our community outreach opportunities as part of our development as a Rights Respecting School, through which our pupils increasingly understand the concept of global citizenship and value finding ways to make community contributions at local, national and international level. In terms of music in the local community, this may include activities such as singing in care homes at Christmas time.
Over the next five years, we also intend to enhance opportunities for our pupils to experience music-related live performances. This will include extending our collaboration with local secondary schools in order to facilitate our pupils having opportunities to enjoy high-quality secondary school productions. In addition, we aim to provide opportunities for pupils to enjoy professional concerts including orchestral music, through engagement with The Symphony Hall in Birmingham, for example.
Beyond the next five years, we are ambitious about developing the range of musical experiences on offer for our pupils. We hope to be able to establish designated spaces for music within our school. This may include a ‘music classroom’ containing multiple keyboards and other instruments for individual practice, as well as small group and whole class enrichment and curriculum activities. We are keen to provide opportunities for pupils to experience a recording studio environment. This may be achieved through visits to professional recording studios as part of our enrichment offer, or by investing in the equipment required to create a recording facility within the school. It is our hope that by developing our music offer in this way, we may be able to serve as a partner school for the local music hub, hosting pupils and staff from other schools within the locality in order to support the music development journey of other schools within the local authority.
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For further information on how you can support your child to access music activities and learning opportunities, please see the following links: The Department for Education publishes a guide for parents and young people on how they can get involved in music in and out of school, and where they can go to for support beyond the school. The Black Country Music Hub is a key partner for us at Bromley Pensnett. We work closely with Dudley Performing Arts in school and engage with the wider Black Country Music Hub to support our strategic aims in relation to music education. www.blackcountrymusichub.org.uk If you would like to learn more about The Black Country Music Hub’s local plan for music education, please click link below. |
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