Music

Intent

At Kielder Primary School and Nursery, our Music curriculum is designed to ensure that every child sees themselves as musical and develops a lifelong enjoyment and appreciation of music. We aim to nurture confident performers, thoughtful listeners and creative composers, while developing pupils’ understanding of how music works and how it reflects culture, identity and history.

Music at Kielder plays a central role in developing pupils’ confidence, communication and wellbeing. Through regular performance, singing and ensemble work, pupils build self-belief, resilience and pride in achievement. Our curriculum introduces pupils to a wide range of musical styles, traditions and cultures, helping to broaden horizons and develop cultural capital — particularly important in our rural context.

Our Music curriculum is ambitious and carefully sequenced to ensure clear progression in performance, listening, composing, notation and musical understanding. Pupils develop both substantive knowledge (musical concepts, styles and historical understanding) and disciplinary knowledge (the processes of performing, composing, rehearsing, listening critically and evaluating).

Music strongly supports our Thrive and Excel @ Kielder Framework by developing communication, confidence, collaboration, reflection and creativity. Pupils are encouraged to take risks in performance, reflect on feedback, persevere with challenge and support one another, developing both musical skill and personal growth.

Implementation

Music at Kielder is delivered through a distinctive two-strand model, ensuring both high-quality practical music-making for all pupils and increasingly sophisticated academic musical understanding in KS2.

Strand 1: Whole-School Practical Music (Reception–Year 6)

All pupils from Reception to Year 6 participate in weekly, practical music lessons focused on:

• Singing and vocal development

• Playing tuned and untuned instruments

• Ensemble performance

• Improvisation and simple composition

• Listening and responding to music

These lessons follow a spiral approach, with key musical skills and concepts revisited and developed over time. Expectations are carefully adapted so that younger pupils develop foundational skills while older pupils take on leadership roles, layered parts and more complex musical challenges.

Strand 2: KS2 Academic Music (Years 3–6)

In addition to practical music-making, KS2 pupils receive a dedicated academic music strand focusing on:

• Reading and writing staff notation (rhythm and pitch)

• Understanding musical elements (tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure)

• Listening to and analysing music from different times and cultures

• Composing using recognised structures and techniques

• Learning about key composers, styles and music history

• Evaluating music using precise musical vocabulary

This ensures that pupils develop a deep and secure understanding of how music works, in line with the National Curriculum and Model Music Curriculum.

The structure and progression of both strands are clearly set out in the Whole-School Music Curriculum documentation, including vocabulary progression and ‘I can’ statements for each year group.

Knowledge, Skills and Vocabulary Progression

A defining strength of Music at Kielder is the explicit and structured progression in musical knowledge, skills and vocabulary from Reception to Year 6.

Across the school, pupils develop:

• Increasing control and confidence in singing and instrumental performance.

• Growing understanding of musical elements, including beat, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure.

• Progressive ability to read, write and interpret musical notation in KS2.

• Increasing sophistication in composing and improvising, from simple sound choices to structured compositions.

• Secure use of Tier 2 disciplinary vocabulary (e.g. tempo, dynamics, texture, structure, harmony, notation, evaluate).

• Confident use of Tier 3 topic-specific vocabulary linked to units, styles and musical contexts.

Progression frameworks clearly show how pupils move from recognising and using simple musical language in EYFS and KS1, to evaluating and justifying musical choices using precise vocabulary in upper KS2. This ensures that pupils do not simply participate in music, but learn to think, talk and reflect like musicians.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning in Music at Kielder is active, inclusive and performance-led. Lessons are highly practical, with pupils regularly singing, playing, moving, composing and listening. Teachers and specialist staff model musical techniques and vocabulary, supporting pupils to develop accuracy, expression and confidence.

Pupils are encouraged to rehearse, refine and improve performances, developing resilience and pride in high-quality outcomes. Structured talk and reflection are embedded, enabling pupils to explain musical choices, describe what they hear and evaluate performances using appropriate vocabulary.

Mixed-age teaching is a strength. Younger pupils develop foundational skills, while older pupils take on more complex parts, leadership roles and evaluative responsibilities. This supports strong progression and collaborative learning, in line with the TEK Framework.

Cultural Capital, Enrichment and Partnership

Music at Kielder is enriched through strong partnerships and real-world musical experiences. Pupils:

• Work with local folk musicians, connecting learning to regional musical traditions.
  

• Experience music from a wide range of cultures, traditions and historical periods, developing respect, curiosity and cultural understanding.

These opportunities place music at the heart of pupils’ learning experiences and help broaden horizons, particularly within a rural context.

Assessment, Proof of Progress (POP) and Inclusion

Assessment in Music focuses on both musical skill and understanding. This includes:

• Ongoing formative assessment through observation of performance, participation and discussion.

• End-of-unit Proof of Progress (POP) tasks, often through performance, composition or listening outcomes, providing evidence of what pupils can do and explain musically.

• Use of recordings, performances, notation work and evaluations to show progression over time.

POP tasks are used to identify strengths, gaps and next steps, allowing teachers to adapt teaching, revisit key concepts and vocabulary, and provide appropriate support or challenge.

SEND pupils are supported through careful scaffolding, adapted instruments, visual supports and differentiated expectations, ensuring access to the same ambitious musical curriculum.

Impact

The impact of our Music curriculum is seen in pupils who:

• Perform with increasing confidence, accuracy and expression.

• Sing and play instruments with growing control and ensemble awareness.

• Use musical vocabulary accurately when describing, evaluating and reflecting on music.

• Read and write simple to increasingly complex notation in KS2.

• Compose and improvise with increasing structure, creativity and purpose.

• Show enthusiasm for music and can articulate personal musical preferences.

• Demonstrate respect and appreciation for music from different cultures and traditions.

• Develop confidence, teamwork and resilience through performance and rehearsal.

Assessment information, POP tasks, performances, recordings and classroom observations demonstrate that learning builds securely over time and that pupils are developing both strong substantive knowledge and increasingly secure disciplinary understanding in Music.

Through our Music curriculum, pupils leave Kielder Primary School and Nursery as confident, reflective and enthusiastic musicians. They demonstrate the TEK Framework competencies of communication, confidence, collaboration, reflection and creativity, and are well prepared for continued musical study and participation beyond primary school.