Intent: why do we teach what we teach?

• Music forms a fundamental part of the pupil experience and journey through KSA from EYFS to the end of Sixth Form. We are committed to providing our pupils with a rich variety of experiences. Our music specialism is part of that commitment. Collective participation in music builds a sense of community and develops skills in self- expression and performance as well as self-discipline and teamwork.
• As part of a school which provides a wealth of musical opportunities and experiences, every pupil learns an instrument and performs as part of an orchestra through the Strings Programme – the centre piece of our music curriculum. The delivery of this programme is crucial to achieving our goal of providing a rigorous, meaningful and enriching musical education for our pupils.
• Music teachers at KSA are part of the wider Ark Music Programme. This ensures that whilst our approach to instrumental learning is specific to our school, our development of pupils’ wider musicianship allows them to access music at GCSE level (and beyond for those who are prepared to dedicate more time to independent practice on top of provisions during school hours).
• The outcomes of our string orchestras, biannual concerts and GCSE results demonstrate the success of the music curriculum and strings programme. We recognise that the addition of an ‘A level’ course in the future will help complete the journey in full and allow pupils to see music as a rigorous career option. Getting to this stage will require a greater emphasis on listening and appraising content and extended writing elements in core music curricula and the continued successful implementation of the new strings curriculum. ‘A level’ course music performance skills will be accessible to our younger cohorts who have engaged in a more rigorous sequence of technical and reading skills acquisition via the strings curriculum, and the externally valid sight reading ‘Beep Test’ assessments. Younger cohorts will also benefit from the MS Teams based independent practice system introduced in KS3 in 2020.
• Core musical concepts are explored and taught from the EYFS where the pupils learn in an integrated context through music, songs (via use of resources from Sing-Up), movement and rhythm. Music supports the development of phonics where pupils engage with instruments, body percussion, rhythm and rhyme to help them discriminate between sounds. Gradually the knowledge and understanding of these concepts deepened and structured throughout years 1 to 6. By the time pupils reach Key Stage 3 they will have a clear understanding of these concepts (musical elements) and be able to apply this knowledge when studying a variety of genres and developing a range of practical and aural skills.

Implementation: how do we teach what we teach?

Music allocation and timetabling at KSA

Impact: how do we know what pupils have learnt and how well they have learnt it?

• The core primary curriculum (EYFS to Y4) sees pupils focussing on acquiring a range of vocal and practical skills. Outcomes are observed in lesson performance activities, termly formal lesson reviews and a range of performances across the year. AFL takes place each lesson in the form of ‘Do Nows’ which create a picture of how much pupils have retained from the previous lesson and inform the teacher if there are any misconceptions that need addressing/any re-teaching that needs to take place. Pupils also engage in self-assessment where they reflect on how well they feel they have met the lesson objective. No formal assessment data is currently collected at this stage of their musical development however a format for this is under design and will be trialled in the academic year ahead
• Formative assessment happens on a regular basis in core music in upper KS2 (Y5 & 6) and the teachers use mark books to track pupil progress.
• In core music in KS3 and 4 Formative checkpoint assessments take place once a term in core lessons and there is a centrally (from the network) provided summative assessment at the end of each term. End of year assessments are moderated and graded centrally, meaning pupils are compared with their peers across the ARK network in KS3 and 4
• Results of pupil end of year assessments have led us to develop the curriculum in the following ways; firstly, a big push on more opportunities for extended writing and musical analysis in core lessons (amending MTPs to push more focus onto this and away from practical work). Secondly, exploring the opportunity of redesigning the assessment content for our school to include strings progress in headline measures (pupils in KS3 spend 2 out of 3 music lessons working on their strings instruments, we want to reflect this hard work and progress in headline assessments). Thirdly, resetting the expectations for the approach to coursework in year 10; monitoring pupil instrumental progress more frequently (twice termly recordings with teacher feedback against a GCSE performance success criteria) and implementing more targeted intervention for composition when pupils are not on track instead of a whole group approach.
• Last year’s year 11 cohort performed strongly despite the impact of COVID-19 and they can be proud of their progress (0.64 above EXA8). Pupils generally performed well in 2 out of 3 of the assessed GCSE elements (performance, composition and Listening & Appraising) but did not reach their potential in one of these areas.
• Strings progress is scoped and sequenced for both technical performance skills and literacy. Assessment in the initial year of learning (Y4) focusses on the non-negotiable basic technical and aural recognition skills pupils will need to access the remaining years of the program. Pupils in this stage are awarded ribbons with each new skill during formative and summative assessments.
• In years 5 and 6, pupils complete twice-termly recorded solo performance assessments under three categories taken from the GCSE marking scheme. Pupils self-assess and peer-assess on their performances each lesson based on these criteria, with results and individual areas for development logged in a tracker.
• Pupils in KS3 undertake sight reading training assessed via (1) sight reading performance ‘Beep Tests’ which reflect the cumulative music reading ability of the pupil (2) orchestral excerpt tests which asses technical and memorisation skills required for ensemble performance (3) solo performance recordings assessed under three categories taken from the GCSE marking scheme. Formative assessment is used throughout the term via Do Now literacy and technical drills, whole group plenaries and lesson reflection forms, and individual independent practice recording feedback.