Music is a universal language that is heard all around us; it is the soundtrack to our lives and has the ability to add an extra dimension to any situation. It has the power to develop pupils emotionally as well as being proven to enhance academic development. The music curriculum at Corpus Christi is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. It is designed to engage and inspire pupils and its overarching aim is to develop breadth of knowledge, skill and personal development. Music at Corpus Christi is designed to bring pupils together and allows pupils to express themselves and connect with people from a variety of backgrounds. Through practical group work pupils are encouraged to use and develop personal transferable life skills such as communication, teamwork, self-motivation, and organisation, that will enrich their lives no matter what their chosen pathway. They are also encouraged to develop problem solving techniques and resilience as well as developing physical dexterity and co-ordination. The curriculum at Corpus Christi is inclusive and accessible for everyone to be actively involved irrelevant of prior learning, background, or extra-curricular involvement. The combination of a diverse, quality-focused curriculum, and a rich extra-curricular culture arms pupils with a growth-based mindset. This gives pupils the opportunity to grow in confidence, creativity, and sense of achievement and enjoy social, emotional, and mental health benefits that come from a genuine enjoyment and love for music.
At Corpus Christi we are not solely striving to teach music to encourage pupils to go on to study music at further education, but also to develop a genuine love of music making. If our music making experiences encourage pupils at some point in their life to go and join a community ensemble, which will in turn give them social opportunities, or supports them in developing a hobby that improves their mental health or helps develop their confidence and self-belief then our intent is successful. Even though a career within the Music Industry may be the goal for some pupils, this is not the goal for other pupils, yet music can still contribute to their both their academic success and overall wellbeing.
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
Taking this into consideration, the music department at Corpus Christi believes pupils should meet these aims and explore their creativity through a variety of engaging, practical topics that have equal focus on knowledge, skill, analysis, and personal development. Our aim is for pupils to want to get involved, want to set themselves high expectations to succeed and engage in musical experiences they may not elsewhere get the opportunity to engage with. Our aim is to spark pupils’ interest, develop inquisitive, creative minds and give pupils the confidence to continue to explore breadth of music knowledge and skill well into their future.
Pupils should consolidate and extended their knowledge and skills across a range of different musical settings. They will develop their theoretical music knowledge as well developing musical performance skills. Pupils should develop their teamwork and communication skills through ensemble music making and will have the opportunity to work both in small groups and as a whole class. Pupils will explore, compose, and perform music from different historical periods, genres, styles, and traditions (some of which include African Drumming, Samba, Blues, British Rock & Pop music, Rap and the Classical Orchestra). They will learn to play a variety of instruments, including keyboards, djembes, ukuleles, samba instruments, tuned percussion and their voices. Pupils will have the opportunity to use traditional acoustic instruments as well as exploring the use of music technology to create, record, and produce music. They should develop their understanding of the bigger picture of the music industry and how music is heard all around us. Pupils should develop their ability to be critical thinkers and be reflective practitioners of their own, and their peers, work. They should develop their ability to identify their own strengths and areas to develop from a given success criteria.
Pupils should be taught:
Knowledge – develop their theoretical musical knowledge including:
Skills – develop their performance skills including:
Analysis and reflection – develop their ability to analyse and reflecting including:
Pupils in Year 11 (2023 leavers) are studying the BTEC Level 1/2 First Award in Music.
Term 1 | · Basic theory · Compositional techniques · Introducing Soundtrap software · Mock compositions |
Term 2 | · Unit 4 (Introducing music composition) |
Term 3 | · Unit 4 completion and hand-in · Introduce Unit 5 (Introducing music performance) |
Term 1 | · Unit 1 (The Music Industry) exam content · Continue with Unit 5 |
Term 2 | · Unit 1 exam (12th January 2023) · Unit 2 (Managing a Music Product) · Continue with Unit 5 |
Term 3 | · Unit 2 completion and hand in · Unit 5 completion and hand in (including practical performance) |
Term 1 | Introduction · Basic theory · Compositional techniques · Introducing Soundtrap software · Mock compositions Unit 2 (Creating) · Unit 2 Task 1 (creative brief) · Begin Unit 2 Task 2 (development log) |
Term 2 | Unit 2 (Creating) · Continue Unit 2 Task 2 (development log) · Unit 2 Task 3 (presentation) · Unit 2 Task 4 (evaluation) |
Term 3 | Unit 1 (Performing) · Unit 1 Task 1a (initial research) · Unit 1 Task 1b (influence and impact) · Unit 1 Task 2 (rehearsal schedule) · Begin Unit 1 Task 3 (reflective journal) |
Term 1 | Unit 1 (Performing) · Continue Unit 1 Task 3 (reflective journal) · Unit 1 Task 4 (performance) · Unit 1 Task 5 (evaluation) Unit 3 (Performing Arts in Practice) · Introductory learning |
Term 2 | Unit 3 (Performing Arts in Practice) · Discuss the brief in general terms, and how this could affect the outcomes. · Create ideas for proposal. · Unit 3 Task 1 · Unit 3 Task 2 · Unit 3 Task 3 · Unit 3 Task 4 · Unit 3 Task 5 · Unit 3 Task 6 |
Term 3 | Unit 3 (Performing Arts in Practice) · Unit 3 Task 7 |
Reading opportunities must be set in line with the schools reading strategy (CARE). The music curriculum supports reading in the curriculum in a variety of ways the use of (and teacher modelling of) tier 3 vocabulary, an opportunity for pupils to be read to (for example when sharing unit learning outcomes or musical context), a differentiated consideration of reading ages when supplying resources and giving pupils the opportunity to read after expectations have been shared through modelling. The music curriculum also has high expectations that pupils answer questions in full sentences wherever appropriate, and pupils have the opportunity to have a second opportunity to answer a question once content of the answer is secure. A large part of reading in the music curriculum is in the form of reading music notation, a language in its own right. Pupils learn how to read this universal language and apply this knowledge to both practical tasks and knowledge checks. Pupils also learn how to read musical performance directions and expression in the form of musical symbols or Italian music terminology. Pupils are in mixed ability groups in music, so many strategies may need to be implemented for differentiation.
At Corpus Christi, we believe that high quality summative assessment must primarily enable pupils to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding acquired throughout the implementation of the planned curriculum. Subsequently, this will allow teachers to measure the progress made by pupils through the curriculum, in relation to learning outcomes set out in schemes of work. In measuring the extent to which pupils have acquired knowledge and a secure understanding, teachers will be able identify gaps in learning, to inform future teaching and planned interventions.
In the music department the Head of Music has a clear, shared rationale and ensures that assessments are checked and verified with their line manager. The Head of Music also ensures that there is a clear and shared rationale for the awarding of progress grades. This will incorporate the use of formative assessment, enabling teachers to use their daily feedback through questioning and marking, to inform decisions related to progress grades.
At Corpus Christi, all assessments in music must be suitably challenging whilst meeting the needs of all pupils. In the music department suitable points for summative assessment are chosen by the Head of Music ensuring that they are embedded into the planned curriculum. As pupils are taught in mixed ability groups, assessments are differentiated by outcome (with extra challenge wherever necessary) to ensure that all pupils can demonstrate their understanding and can make outstanding progress through the curriculum. It is the responsibility of each teacher to ensure their classes are suitably ready for assessments and all content has been covered thoroughly, considering the needs of all pupils.
The schemes of work allow teachers to frequently monitor pupil’s progression internally within the department, because pupils must demonstrate their learning and understanding in a practical way most lessons. Advantageously, this provides the teacher with a clear measurement of pupil achievement and their ability to perform, make and respond in relation to the progress pathway criteria and/or the KS4 mark scheme. Frequent monitoring will inform teacher planning, differentiation or intervention strategies that need to be implemented so that pupils progress.
Assessment and self- evaluation during KS3 and 4 will be fluid as our pupils will be encouraged to become reflective practitioners. Self-reflection is taught in amongst the schemes of work and will allow pupils to observe modelled teacher reflection as well as give them opportunities to coach their peers in a constructively similar way. This will be overseen by the class teacher and modelled so that pupils can self-assess productively. Teacher assessment will inform planning in the curriculum and assessment cycles
In KS3 music pupils are assessed on both skill and knowledge for each topic and assessment is both formative and summative. For skill, pupils are formatively assessed on their practical progress and development throughout the topic as well as a summative end of topic practical assessment. For knowledge, questioning and knowledge recall contributes to formative assessment and for summative assessment pupils complete a self-reflection and a knowledge check test. At the end of each topic, teachers will record 3 scores:
When it comes to whole school data reporting, the school progress grade (1-4) is given based on a holistic approach from all topics completed so far that year. It considers practical attainment as well as pupil starting points therefore represents progress made to date.
For further information regarding our Music curriculum please contact:
Miss Lofthouse, email: slof@ccc.lancs.sch.uk or telephone school reception: (01772) 716912.