Music at Brook Lodge

Music is taught at Rainford Brook Lodge Primary School in Years 1- 6 within a contextualised curriculum following the objectives from the National Curriculum. In the Early Years Foundation Stage it is taught as part of expressive arts and design.

At Rainford Brook Lodge Primary School, we strongly believe that music helps to develop a pupil’s creativity, imagination, listening skills, confidence and their ability to express their thoughts and feelings. Developing a musical interest can foster many transferable life skills. Through music, pupils can develop listening, performance and evaluation skills as well as developing the skills required for effective learning such as perseverance and commitment. Music offers pupils the opportunity for children to explore their learning, make mistakes and build confidence to develop as independent thinkers, which links closely to the school’s approach to the teaching of metacognition.

Music is taught and assessed at Brook Lodge Using Charanga’s English Model Music Curriculum Scheme. This scheme is aligned with the National Curriculum for Music and the non-statutory Model Music Curriculum (MMC) Guidance published by the DfE in 2021. It follows a spiral approach to musical learning, with children revisiting, building and extending their knowledge and skills incrementally. In this manner, their learning is consolidated and augmented, increasing musical confidence and enabling them to go further. Our philosophy of music education is based on the principle that it should be fun and engaging for all concerned, and that every child is a born musician. Music plays a role in every aspect of our lives, wherever and whoever we are.

The music curriculum at Brook Lodge Primary School plays a key role in providing a broad and balanced curriculum across the school. We teach music explicitly and practically through the school’s day-to-day teaching, music days and the wider curriculum.  The practical exploration of music alongside the other key areas of music ensures objectives are covered in a way in which our children will retain vital knowledge and skills so that they will be able to transfer and apply it fluently in a range of contexts. The school benefits from expertise in music from within the school’s teaching staff.

At Brook Lodge children also have many opportunities to further their interest in music through extra-curricular activities such as choir and, musical instrument lessons provided by St Helen’s Music Hub, the School’s Music Service and RockSteady. The implementation of our curriculum also allows our children to apply their musical skills purposefully to performances such at Christmas productions, community events and at the annual Young Voices Event, reinforcing the importance of practical first-hand experiences. These performances also encourage parental involvement and create valuable community links in music, as parents and children are keen to attend performances and support pupils both in school and in the local area.