Music Subject Lead - Mrs Gibbons 

Why I am passionate about music education...

Hello! I lead music at St. James'. I believe that music is an essential part of a child's development. 

At St James’ we engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music. We believe that music is a unique and powerful form of communication that can affect a pupil’s mood and the way that they feel, think and act. Music is fundamental to our humanity and civilisation. Every child deserves the opportunity to engage with music of all styles and from all cultures, in order to develop their own musical journey.

Music runs throughout the whole of our bespoke curriculum with children being encouraged to enjoy singing to help learn key concepts.

Curriculum intent

At St. James', all pupils are given the opportunity to develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about Music by:

● Children will develop their skills in enquiry and critical thinking.

● Children will begin to feel and learn about social connectivity.

● Children will learn about and deepen their musical understanding and connect this with their place in their community.

● Children will become globally aware and understand what it means to become a citizen of the world.

● Songs and singing lie at the heart of the learning process.

● An authentic musical experience is at the heart of musical learning.

● At each age and stage of development, musical learning is drawn from engaging with the songs in each unit.

● The scheme is fun, modern, inclusive and engaging.

● The scheme is flexible and can be used as a structured approach to music teaching or can be turned into a customised model for an individual school or class.

● The scheme will help children to understand and connect with different styles of music from various cultures, particularly where cultures intersect.

● Children will gain an understanding of historical and cultural contexts related to music.

● Children will form their own musical opinions and learn to make their own musical decisions.

Curriculum implementation 

At St. James’ we adopt the Charanga creative music scheme. This provides clearly sequenced units and lessons with week-by week support for each year group. There are lesson plans, assessment documentation, a clear learning progression, and engaging and exciting songs and resources to support every lesson. Key Learning and Outcomes with ‘I Can’ statements are provided to be used alongside assessment grids. This scheme supports all the requirements of the National Curriculum: listening, singing, playing, composing, improvising and performing. This scheme can also be used in line with the non-statutory Model Music Curriculum from the DfE.