Music at The Hayes Primary School

At The Hayes Primary School, our curriculum is designed to inspire curiosity, creativity and a love of learning. Music plays a vital role in achieving our school vision to “be the best you can be”, enabling all children to express themselves, develop confidence and engage in rich cultural experiences. Through high-quality musical teaching and meaningful opportunities to perform, listen and create, we empower our pupils to develop not only musical proficiency but also resilience, collaboration and personal pride in their achievements.  We aim to foster a love of music for our children, equipping them with the skills, knowledge and understanding to become confident performers, composers and listeners.

Intent

Music is an essential part of the curriculum at The Hayes.  Our intent is to nurture confident, competent and enthusiastic musicians who develop a lifelong appreciation of music. Our curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and carefully structured so that every child, regardless of starting point, can experience success and enjoyment while progressing in their musical learning.

Our aims are to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop secure musical skills in singing, playing instruments, improvising, composing and listening.
• Are exposed to a diverse range of musical genres, traditions and cultures, celebrating music from across the world.
• Understand the history, purpose and contexts that shape music and appreciate its cultural significance.
• Build a strong grasp of musical vocabulary and the interrelated dimensions of music (pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics).
• Foster transferable life skills, including teamwork, creativity, self-expression, problem-solving and perseverance.
• Grow in confidence as performers, developing the ability to share music with others in both informal and formal settings.

Implementation

Our music curriculum is organised as a spiral curriculum, ensuring key concepts, skills and knowledge are revisited and deepened over time. This includes developing the children’s understanding of the interrelated dimensions of music (pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics).  Lessons are carefully sequenced, enabling children to build upon prior knowledge and make meaningful connections across skills, styles and concepts.

Our implementation includes:

• A clear and comprehensive scheme of work aligned with the National Curriculum ensuring consistency, progression and challenge.
• Regular opportunities for children to sing, play tuned and untuned instruments, create and notate their own compositions, and listen actively and critically to music.
• A strong focus on musical vocabulary, taught explicitly and revisited throughout each year group.
• A combination of practical and theoretical learning opportunities to enable children to develop the ability to express themselves through music and have a secure repertoire of songs and musical pieces.
• Opportunities to develop a secure understanding of musical notation.
• Purposeful cross-curricular links, using music to enrich learning in subjects such as history, geography, science and PSHE (e.g., samba linked to the rainforest, songs exploring wellbeing themes).
• Engagement with local music events, school performances, and enrichment opportunities to broaden children’s cultural and performance experiences.
• Access to a wide range of peripatetic music lessons encouraging children to pursue instrumental learning at a deeper level.
• A curriculum designed to be fully inclusive, enabling all learners—including those with SEND or additional vulnerabilities—to thrive and participate fully.
• Opportunities to develop digital musicianship, using tools to explore composition and recording in upper KS2.

Progression is carefully planned from EYFS to Year 6 in both musical skills and knowledge.   Pupils will start by developing a strong foundation in the basics of music and the musical elements, such as singing, playing simple instruments, exploring beat, rhythm, pitch and simple instrument handling.   As they move through the key stages, they will tackle increasingly complex tasks, deepen their understanding of musical history and theory, and have more opportunities to compose, improvise, and perform.   By the end of KS2, they perform in ensembles, read standard notation with confidence, compose using structure and harmony, improvise and understand how music reflects different times, places and cultures.

Impact

Through our music curriculum, pupils at The Hayes Primary School will:

• Demonstrate increasing confidence when performing, whether singing in class, playing instruments, or presenting to a wider audience such as in assemblies, concerts or school productions.
• Develop a deep appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles, understanding how music is shaped by its cultural, social and historical contexts.
• Understand and apply a range of notation systems, including graphic notation, rhythmic notation and standard pitch notation, to support their performing and composing.
• Show secure understanding and accurate use of musical vocabulary appropriate to their year group.
• Retain key knowledge and skills over time, building a strong musical foundation that prepares them for secondary education.
• Engage enthusiastically in music lessons, extra-curricular clubs and wider enrichment opportunities because they have developed a genuine enjoyment and love of music.
• Use music confidently as a form of personal expression, articulating their preferences and identifying music that resonates with them.
• Meet age-related expectations and, where possible, exceed them, showing clear progression from their starting points.

The success of our music curriculum is visible through pupil voice, confident performances, high engagement in lessons, and participation in extra-curricular musical opportunities.

It’s quite simple: Music is Magic at The Hayes!

Please click picture to access the Music Curriculum Map

How Music is taught throughout the school (Curriculum Mapping)

Music Tuition

The Hayes is very proud of its musical reputation especially in the provision of instrumental teaching and extra curricular activities.  The school is able to offer instrumental tuition in the following instruments:

Violin               Flute                    Piano                       Viola                    Cello   

Clarinet          Guitar                 Percussion               Recorder              Ocarina