The Scheme is a spiral curriculum where the key musical skills and learning are repeated across the Units of Work. This repetition enables more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills across a breadth of repertoire.

The interrelated dimensions of music are at the heart of all the learning activities. These are:

• Pulse – the regular heartbeat of the music; its steady beat
• Rhythm – long and short sounds or patterns that happen over the pulse
• Pitch – high and low sounds
• Dynamics – how loud or quiet the music is
• Tempo – the speed of the music; fast or slow or in between
• Timbre – all instruments, including voices, have a certain sound quality e.g., the trumpet has a very different sound quality to the violin
• Structure – music has a structure e.g., an introduction, verse and chorus ending
• Texture – layers of sound
• Notation – the link between sound and symbol

Extensive research has shown the undeniably positive impact that singing has on emotional, physical and mental well-being. This is why singing features so highly in our music curricula and on educational agendas globally – as well as simply being a great thing to do!

By providing songs from around the world and their cultural contexts, learners’ music education experiences are enriched. Every student in our classrooms is a culture bearer, representative of a community. We encourage our teachers to use the rich resources charanga™ provides accordingly, offering a way for students to explore their identity.

Our pupils sing regularly in Collective Worship, work towards performances in school productions, visits to Young Voices at the O2 and share with musical guests invited into school. In addition to this, we offer individualised music lessons in guitar, brass and piano.