We are passionate about learning and growing.
We care and collaborate together
We are ambitious, challenging ourselves to aim high
We enjoy life and every new opportunity
We have inquisitive minds and ask questions
We value and celebrate each other’s strengths and talents
We do our best and never give up
We love learning for life
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. At Cloverlea we aim for our music education to engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to understand rhythm and follow a beat. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music. Children develop descriptive language skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent different feelings, emotions and narratives. We also teach technical vocabulary such as volume, pitch, beat and rhythm and encourage children to discuss music using these terms.
As our pupils progress, it is hoped that they will develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
At Cloverlea we follow the National Curriculum for Music, allowing breadth and balance in the children's learning. We have adopted a scheme of work, Charanga, which engages our pupils and provides them with a wealth of excellent music experiences and opportunities. The scheme has allowed us to ensure good coverage and progression across school and, although our music is taught by music specialists from Trafford, it has allowed our non specialists teachers the opportunity to teach music with confidence and success. Pupils at KS1 and KS2 have at least one lesson a week of music and this is taught by Music Specialists from Trafford. They also have weekly singing assemblies which facilitates a strong and enthusiastic love of music, singing and performance. In the EYFS music is part of everyday learning and children are given the opportunity to explore music through different topics and through different activities.
Music assessment is ongoing to inform our teachers (specialist teachers and classroom teachers) of pupil attainment and achievement and thus aid with planning, lesson activities and differentiation. Summative assessment is completed using itrack and this informs our reporting arrangements to parents, governors, staff, and senior management. It also highlights further teaching that needs to take place to embed skills and understanding. Music is monitored throughout all year groups using a variety of strategies such as lesson observations, pupil interviews, recordings and video.
At Cloverlea, our pupils will be engaged and inspired to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians.
Their self-confidence and creativity will have increased giving them a sense of achievement.
They will have a critical engagement with music and will showcase all the qualities, skills and understanding of music, outlined in the National curriculum, in their listening, learning, composing and performing.
We will give our pupils a wealth and variety of musical opportunities that hopefully will inspire them to build on and develop their musical skills in their lives to come.
National Curriculum Attainment Targets
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
Key stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
Key stage 2
Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
Pupils should be taught to:
Enrichment
At Cloverlea we liaise with Trafford Music Services to organise both KS1 and KS2 projects and events during the course of the year. This includes whole class ensemble teaching in Years 3 and 5 where children are taught a specific musical instrument for a term in the school year. These lessons incorporate teaching musical notation, singing, as well as learning to play an instrument. In Year 1 the children get involved in a musical performance of 'Princess and the Pea' and throughout the academic year there are other plays and performances to parents and the local community that promote music in a variety of forms.
Our enrichment provides opportunities for new experiences as well as nurturing and developing a thirst for music and learning a musical instrument .
Cloverlea has been given the 'Music Mark' in recognition of the work we do and opportunities we provide for our pupils which is centered around Music. We are extremely proud and pleased with this award.