



Music Curriculum Statement
Intent
Our intent is to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that allows them to develop as confident responsible citizens equipped with the skills that will allow them to be successful in our ever-changing world, both in the present and the future.
We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities (memorable experiences) to engage learners and develop their cultural capital which has been recognised as essential if children are to succeed.
We believe that our children should not only reach their best academically, but also develop a thirst for knowledge, foster a love of learning and leave our school with exceptional independent learning skills.
We are fully committed to developing each child's unique potential within a secure and caring environment.
We use our Captain Webb Values to promote positive attitudes to learning:
Listen
Encourage
Achieve
Respect
Nurture
Music and singing are integral to the life of a Captain Webb child. We provide a vibrant musical experience for all children with fun and enjoyment at its heart. Our objective at Captain Webb is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community, and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music in a variety of different contexts. We provide opportunities for all children to compose, play, perform and enjoy music. Through our music curriculum pupils will gain self-confidence and a sense of achievement. Children will develop their capacity to express ideas and feelings through the medium of sound. Extra-curricular clubs such as our school choir, musical theatre club and instrumental lessons enhance our curriculum offer.
Implementation
Music is firmly embedded into everyday life at Captain Webb. We deliver a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum through Charanga. Music is taught for one hour weekly. Music lessons in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are taught by Telford and Wrekin Music and EYFS have music sessions delivered by Music Minors. Utilising specialist teachers ensures knowledge and skills are progressive from the age of 2 to the age of 11 as well as giving our children the opportunity to experience learning instruments from experienced tutors. This also ensures that children receive high quality music provision and that teachers receive valuable, regular CPD. Charanga includes many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre. In doing so children gain an understanding into different methods of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn to compose focussing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when playing or appraising music.
Weekly music lessons are just the start here at Captain Webb. Singing and music underpin everything that we do which is currently being evidenced in our Artsmark journey. One of our popular extra-curricular clubs is our Key Stage 2 Young Voices Group where we make community links and sing at our local Dawley Christmas Light Switch On. We also perform in homes for the elderly which both the children and adults thoroughly enjoy. Our extra-curricular clubs and ‘Composer/artist of the Week’ enhance our cultural capital and children hear music from Beethoven right through to Destiny’s Child. Singing is also embedded in our weekly singing assemblies and we are proud to say we are a Sing Up school that supports children in finding their voices.
There is plenty of opportunity for children to sing and play instruments as part of our Captain Webb’s Got Talent showcase every summer. Children at Captain Webb regularly experience live music in the form of theatre shows and live bands. Live performances add to the music offer all children receive and provide opportunities for Pupil Premium children that they might not otherwise experience.
Impact
All children will benefit from a high-quality music education which engages and inspires them to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. It will increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they will develop a growing musical vocabulary that allows them to critically engage with music. Teaching and learning of music is a reflective process for the children as they are given the opportunities to assess themselves and their peers. The children also celebrate their success and skills with their peers and wider audiences. We assess through teacher assessment, pictures and video evidence which captures each child’s progress throughout the year. We utilise pupil voice regularly as a means of engaging children in their own learning and what they would like to see in their Captain Webb music journey. As part of our music provision, we achieved an Excellence in Music Provision Award from The Music Partnership and our Year 3 pupils received a Distinction in Music Performance from the University of West London.




Over the past two years we have been working towards achieving a prestigious Artsmark Award which recognises a settings contribution towards the arts. We are delighted to announce that during half term we found out that we have been awarded an Artsmark Gold Award. The Artsmark Award is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It supports schools to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education, putting creativity and wellbeing at the heart of the curriculum. Artsmark ensures every young person can be creative and access a diverse, high-quality cultural education. We have seen a huge impact upon both children and staff at Captain Webb with initiatives such as Indian drumming on World Music Day as well as extra-curricular dance clubs. Here is some of the feedback we were given by the Artsmark assessors:
“You clearly value the arts and recognise their contribution to supporting your pupils' emotional well-being and self-confidence.”
“You have used your Artsmark journey to develop children's cultural capital by commissioning various theatre groups, including Loud Mouth Theatre, Hobgoblin Theatre Company and Image Theatre Company, so that every child has enjoyed watching live performances.”
“Music is a growing strength within your overall arts offer with lessons provided by specialist music teachers throughout the whole school, including EYFS sessions delivered by 'Music Minors.”
“It is great to hear that you are beginning to develop pupil voice through your Arts Committee, and that they have relished the opportunity to work with your new partner, 'Primary Workshops' to plan and deliver Indian drumming workshops throughout the school in celebration of World Music Day.”
“Teachers' confidence has increased because of working alongside music specialists. They have also strengthened their fine art skills by participating in training on the use of sketch books, led by Go Sketch.”
“Clearly, the dance club specifically for boys was also a successful initiative, with their performance at a local theatre supporting positive learning behaviours.”