Overview

Part A: Curriculum music

This is about what we teach in lesson time, how much time is spent teaching music and any music qualifications or awards that pupils can achieve.

At Bowerham, we have a whole school music curriculum (attached) which outlines our termly plans for each year group. Each year group includes these plans in their Yearly Overviews which can be found on the website, in classes. Music is expected to be taught formally 4 times every half term. Our school takes part in the Charanga Music Scheme which supports and structures teaching so that high quality lessons can take place with appropriate subject knowledge for the age and stage of each class. These lessons are approximately 30-45minutes, which include listening and appraising music, playing, recording and performing a variety of music that all tie into the topic being studied that term. During curriculum music, musical vocabulary and a growing understanding of dynamics and notation is taught. These are built on throughout the year groups and children are encouraged to use their prior knowledge in new year groups, so that these skills can be built on with new curriculum content or transferred across different musical contexts. Alongside Charanga lessons, there are a handful of opportunities to learn instruments in a class context; currently , these are Ukulele and Glockenspiel. We currently do not offer any awards in class teaching sessions, but we do offer LAMDA Awards in afterschool club. We also have two qualified Arts Award teachers and will start providing this opportunity in the coming academic year.

Part B: Co-curricular music

This is about opportunities for pupils to sing and play music, outside of lesson time, including choirs, ensembles and bands, and how pupils can make progress in music beyond the core curriculum.

We value the many opportunities that co-curricular music has to offer to every child. It is clear that through music we are able to learn in impactful ways that enthuse and motivate our pupils. Music has many strengths to add to development, such as resilience and perseverance, it can help us remember facts and introduce new and exciting ways to learn across the curriculum. One example of this, is using songs to share what we have learnt; Year 3 rapped about the Romans during an open morning. To make sure our pupils have a well-rounded experience of music across the curriculum, as well as opportunity to develop the skills music has to offer, we have time in assemblies, speaking and listening events and performances for children to share in co-curricular musical experiences. These assemblies and other events, introduce children to music of different genres in different contexts, such as assemblies and local performances. We have also had the local music charity More Music in for 6 week projects with single year groups linking Geography and Art, as well as the Dukes Theatre Company to embellish Literacy and History through acting and music. This has been with Year 3 and Year 6 in the past and we hope to provide more of these across the school. Children also have opportunities to perform and listen to live music in our awards and leavers assemblies, the end of Year 6 Performance (The Wizard of Oz, 2024), as well as our weekly KS1 and KS2 celebration assemblies where we learn songs and sing together, with occasional performances from children with peripatetic lessons in school from Lancaster Music Service (LMS). These lessons from the LMS are weekly lessons in school, with loaned out instruments, for children who want to pursue and practise their music skills. The instruments on offer this year have been flute, guitar, violin and piano keyboard. We also offer afterschool clubs, like School Choir and Drama groups, that help children develop in the music and drama skills so that they can pursue their goals and a chance to attain Arts Awards and LAMDA Awards. Other opportunities across school include, Bowerham Busk, where children have the chance to hear many different genres of music in support of Children in Need, Bowerham’s Got Talent, where children celebrate each other’s musical talents amongst other skills, and an auditioned choir which has taken place for BBC’s Children in Need’s Choir for 2024. In each of these experiences, children are able to link their current experience back to the learning in classroom, so that they can apply the knowledge they have, in their co-curricular experiences. We are extremely proud of the many opportunities we provide for our children to make sure they have a varied and relevant exposure to music across the curriculum.

Part C: Musical experiences

This is about all the other musical events and opportunities that we organise, such as singing in assembly, concerts and shows, and trips to professional concerts.

We are delighted by the many musical experiences we offer at Bowerham. Our children have access to a variety of experiences both in and outside of school with external music groups as well as inhouse provision of experiences. Our external opportunities and experiences consist of locally run events: Lancaster Music Festival, Lancaster Jazz Festival, Lancaster Singing Festival (Years 2 and 5), singing in the local community (hospitals, openings, care-homes). Internally, we provide musical experiences through the year that make links to learning and current events such as: Harvest Festival, Christmas Carol Service, Year 2 Nativity, Bowerham 24 Hour Busk for Children in Need, Choral Speaking, Year 6 End of Year Performance, Bowerham’s Got Talent, Pupil performances in weekly assemblies along with special assemblies like Awards Assembly, Celebration Assemblies, Head Teacher Award Assemblies and Leavers’ Assemblies. All these school assemblies always include singing and performance of music so that children can celebrate and promote a love of music throughout school life. We also make sure our children have opportunities from further-a-field where they can see professionals perform, as well as being able enjoy and take part in the music experience. Our main contributors to this this year have been: Young Voices for Year 6, Christmas Pantomime in Lytham, and being invited to the BBC Children in Need Choir for 2024.

In the future

This is about what the school is planning for subsequent years.

At Bowerham we will strive to provide the same level of opportunity for our pupils so that they can experience music in an exciting and engaging way, so that they feel motivated to pursue music for themselves both inside and outside of school. We have some exciting opportunities for this in our next academic year (2024-25) which include Playground Proms, performing and recording for BBC Children in Need Choir 2024, Bowerham 24 hour Busk, on top of our yearly experiences listed above. This year The ARTs Team is starting Arts Award opportunities for children in Key Stage 2 and they are also applying to attain our Arts Mark Gold Award for school. This will contain a small group project and some whole school observations and moderations to assess Bowerham for this Award. We are very much looking forward to another successful year of promoting and enjoying music across Bowerham, with many new and exciting opportunities for whole school community.

Further information (optional)

For any more information about curriculum music across school or for individual year groups can be found on the school website or our social media pages: https://www.bowerham.lancs.sch.uk/     Instagram – bowerhamschool (CIN 2022 Highlight)  X (Formerly known as Twitter) – @bowerhamschool

Facebook – Bowerham Primary and Nursery School and Baby Unit https://www.facebook.com/bowerham/?locale=en_GB

For parents and pupils, please look on Showbie for music experiences and work that shows the progression and opportunities that have taken place in school.