Intent  

At St Columba's we aspire to achieve a high-quality music education that should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Music is a unique way of communicating. It is a vehicle of personal expression, and it can play an important part in personal and cognitive development. Our teaching aims to reflect the culture and society that we live in and so the teaching and learning of music enables children to better understand the world they live in.

From an early age, pupils are exposed to great composers such as Rogers and Hammerstein, Victor Hubert, Edvard Grieg and Mozart. They identify the families of instruments that make up an orchestra whilst listening to great orchestral pieces like of Peter and the Wolf, The marriage of Figaro and the Sorcerers Apprentice. They participate in music appreciation sessions and are given the appropriate vocabulary to express their ideas using the language of the musical elements they have studied. By the end of Y2 all children are encouraged to play a tuned instrument and develop their skill of notation.

During their time in KS2, children continue to study great pieces from classical composers but are exposed to an even wider, eclectic mix of musical genre. Children build on their early notation from KS1 and all children are taught to play an instrument by consultants from the Birmingham Music Service.

By the end of KS2, children at St Columba’s have developed a critical engagement with music as listeners, composers and musicians. They have gained the necessary musical cultural capital, which will set them up to be lifelong successful learners.