Winshill Village
Music
Subject Leader: Mrs C. Jenkins
"Music is the last true voice of the human spirit. It can go beyond language, beyond age, and beyond colour straight to the mind and heart of all people."
Ben Harper - American Musician
Vision
At Winshill Village Primary and Nursery School, our aim is to allow all pupils to feel that they are musical and for them to develop a life-long love of music through our progressive curriculum. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that children need to become confident performers, composers and listeners. We intend for children to have a rapidly widening repertoire by introducing children to music from all around the world and across generations; teaching children to be empathetic and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities. We allow our children to develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. We intend for all pupils to take joy in creating music. We ensure our children develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Through music, our curriculum helps children develop transferable skills such as teamwork, leadership, creative thinking, problem solving, decision-making and presentation and performance skills. These skills are vital to children’s development as learners and have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond primary school. Our carefully designed Music curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their background or starting point show growth as musicians and make progress during their music journey at our school.
Aims and Goals
At Winshill Village Primary and Nursery School, our Music curriculum aims to:
- provide the opportunity for every child to learn about and work alongside people from different musical backgrounds.
- Give confidence to every child so they feel able to perform musically within different venues and settings.
- Equip the children with skills enabling them to appraise and describe music using their retained vocabulary.
- Embed cultural capital across school through exposure to a wide range of composers, peripatetic teachers and through events attended.
- Expose every child to a broad, balanced curriculum where skills and knowledge are embedded and created to enable a shift in long term memory.
- Ensure the curriculum is diverse and accessible by all.
Curriculum
At Winshill Village Primary and Nursery School, we believe that Music is a vital part of a broad and balanced curriculum. It develops creativity, confidence, and self-expression, while also building skills in listening, collaboration, and performance. Music is taught through the KAPOW platform from Year 1 to Year 6, with carefully sequenced, age-appropriate lessons that ensure progression across the school.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
In the Early Years, Music is woven into daily routines through shared singing sessions, where children enjoy favourite rhymes and learning songs together. In Reception, children also take part in a weekly KAPOW session, which introduces structured progression in their musical skills and knowledge.
Years 1 - 6
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Music is a core entitlement for all pupils and is timetabled across the year to ensure full coverage of the curriculum.
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The KAPOW scheme introduces knowledge and skills in small, manageable steps, helping children to build steadily on their learning.
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Pupils experience a range of tuned and untuned instruments and develop an understanding of rhythm, melody, and notation.
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Children explore performance skills, learning how to share their music with others, and develop their ability to transcribe and compose pieces of music.
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Teachers place a strong emphasis on listening and appraisal, helping pupils to describe, evaluate, and reflect on the music they hear.
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In Key Stage 2, pupils benefit from specialist teaching by peripatetic music teachers and have the opportunity to join the school choir, performing at local and wider events such as the JTMAT Christmas Concert and Young Voices.
Through Music, our pupils grow in confidence, creativity, and enjoyment, gaining valuable experiences that allow them to perform proudly within school, the local community, and beyond.
Cross-Curricular
At Winshill Village Primary and Nursery School, Music is enriched through purposeful cross-curricular links. In English, children develop oracy and vocabulary through singing, performance, and discussion of lyrics. In Mathematics, they explore rhythm, pattern, and counting in beats and measures. History and Geography provide context as pupils learn about music from different periods, cultures, and traditions around the world. In PE, music supports movement and dance, while in Computing, children use technology to create, record, and edit compositions.
These links help pupils make meaningful connections across subjects, deepening their understanding and allowing them to see how music shapes—and is shaped by—the wider world.
