Music
Music Overview
Intent
At Hope School we want to engage, inspire and challenge our learners, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to; appreciate all music genres, be creative, experiment and compose their own music. As our learners progress through school, they will be able to develop their critical thinking skills and their understanding and experience of music.
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire learners to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
As learners progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in their own musical way. We also offer choir as an extra-curricular activity after school on a weekly basis and work towards events in the local community alongside other schools in the borough and at the AO Arena Manchester.
Underpinning our curriculum are our three core values of Achievement, Equality and Independence.
Implementation
Music at Hope School and College is part of our daily routines, through singing, creating calm classrooms, assemblies, transitions, our radio room and having the opportunity to listen to live musicians perform and local school choirs.
We utilise programmes like Charanga (scheme of learning) to enhance our Music curriculum. Charanga is a progressive program that enables learners to reflect and build on their musical knowledge and skills.
We currently use ‘Charanga’ as part of our school music curriculum with teachers enhancing this with planned musical activities that complement topics, themes and musical abilities within our classes.
In the Senior department, a rota for Wider Opportunities WOPPS is in place, this is when we group with the Music service. Further musical specialist tuition is provided through the local music service for individual music lessons.
At Hope School and College we also have our own school choir as an extra-curricular activity after school. The Choir has performed at numerous venues including the AO arena and the local Brick Stadium to 1000’s of audience members.
The Charanga Musical School Scheme provides teachers with week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the school, excluding Nursery. It provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson. The Scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum and Development Matters. Each academic year is broken into six units of work (one per half term), each divided into six progressive steps.
Steps consist of:
• Listening and Appraising
• Musical Activities
◦ Warm-up Games
◦ Optional Flexible Games
◦ Singing
◦ Playing instruments
◦ Improvisation
◦ Composition
The teacher can plan and provide the opportunity to embed a deeper learning, knowledge, understanding and skills.
Charanga provides a progressive sequence of skills which results in learners being able to make links between skills and previous experiences and learning.
All learners can access this curriculum from EYFS to FEU which ensures the progression of skills and knowledge throughout each year group at their own pace.
Every learner is entitled to learn to play a tuned instrument (music lessons offered).
As part of the implementation process, we include the following:
• To sing as part of an ensemble.
• To have experience of playing a variety of musical instruments.
• To provide skills and musical techniques required to play musical instruments whilst using the correct terminology.
• To ensure all learners experience a concert watching live musicians perform as part of a group.
• To teach our learners new knowledge on cultural musical terms and sounds.
• To develop the learners’ ear in relation to musical recognition.
• To offer our learners new and exciting opportunities linked to music.
• To promote our school values and British Values.
• To prepare our learners for the next steps in their learning.
• Uses voices expressively
• Plays tunes/untuned instruments
• Experiments with musical instruments and technology
• Plays and performs in an ensemble
• Listens with attention and can recall sounds heard
• Develops an understanding of the history of music
• Shares their musical preference.
Impact
The impact of music at Hope School can be recognised throughout our school day. Singing, as an example, aids our phonetical awareness, language development and communication skills. Music impacts our environments- creating calming atmospheres to promote more focus. Specific music may support transition are be used as an auditory cue for key times of the day. Music also impacts our social skills- building friendships, confidence, and teamwork in our varied and enriched sessions. Learners, through self-expression, have a chance to feel accomplished and celebrated in our performances.
Furthermore, music at Hope influences our mood, reduces behaviours, enhances cognitive function and the acquisition of skill, and even impacts our physical health. Music at Hope is also responsible for shaping many fond memories and connections with the wider community.
What can I, the student, learn through music?
• I can learn to make sense of and appreciate all the sounds in my environment.
• I can enjoy making sounds with a variety of equipment and instruments.
• I can deepen my understanding and appreciation of various aspects of music.
• I can learn to use music as a non-verbal means of expression.
• I can be encouraged to vocalise or verbalise.
• I can improve my receptive and expressive vocabulary by listening to and singing songs and rhymes.
• I can be encouraged to lengthen my concentration span.
• I can improve my auditory memory skills.
• I can learn to anticipate what comes next in a song, rhyme or rhythm.
• I can improve my hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.
• I can learn to imitate sounds and actions.
Rationale
Music is a vital form of expression and communication for all learners. In a SEND setting, it provides opportunities for sensory exploration, emotional regulation, social connection, and creativity. Using Charanga alongside the Five Pathways model ensures that every learner can access, enjoy, and progress in music according to their individual needs.
Aims
The curriculum aims to:
• Foster enjoyment and active engagement with music.
• Develop listening, communication, and coordination skills.
• Encourage creativity, confidence, and collaboration.
• Provide a clear progression pathway for all learners.
Our music curriculum offers an adaptable, interactive, and engaging platform for inclusive music-making.
• Accessible: Activities can be differentiated to match sensory, physical, and cognitive needs.
• Engaging: Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic resources motivate participation.
• Structured yet flexible: Sequenced units allow teachers to tailor lessons to individual learning goals and EHCP outcomes.
• Cross-curricular: Music supports wider skills such as language, motor development, and emotional wellbeing.
The Five Pathways
The Five Pathways provide a developmental structure for musical learning:
1. Listen and respond – awareness and reaction to sounds.
2. Explore and control – experimenting with voice, body, and instruments.
3. Create and communicate – expressing ideas and feelings through sound.
4. Participate and perform – sharing music through group play and performance.
5. Appraise and reflect – developing preferences and awareness of self and others.
Music at Hope School and College
Music in our Complex Learning Pathway
Learners on our complex learning pathway are offered opportunities for nurturing sensory awareness and for increasing the student’s general ability to respond to stimuli linked to music. All sounds are potentially musical. Sound becomes music when it is organised into patterns and structures. Everyday sounds, such as the patter of rain, can be used to encourage an early awareness of music.
Music encourages active listening and promotes auditory discrimination. It offers opportunities for developing skills in concentration, perseverance, and self-discipline. Memory, movement, and body image can be developed through music. The ability to discriminate between sounds, to make sounds, and to imitate sounds and actions are also very important aspects of the student’s ability to interact with those around himself/herself.
Music is an important part of our historical and cultural inheritance. Music can give learners a flavour of the culture and tradition of any country, while music from other countries can help to foster an appreciation of the wider world. Music can broaden the student’s ability to recognise and be sensitive to beauty and to appreciate more fully the world in which he/she lives. The ability to appreciate music is often unaffected by disability, and an interest in music can provide the learners with a lifelong leisure activity. The content is presented in three strands:
Listening and responding/Performing/Composing.
Music in our Early Steps Pathway
Learners on our early steps pathway access the music curriculum in a cross-curricular approach, in addition to set music sessions.
Music is an integral part of the cross-curricular activities which make up the day in the early Years department. Each day brings songs to sing and music to listen to, highlighting specific daily routines as well as enhancing the activities. Music is explored through a range of topics/themes, it is met during ‘Rhyme Time’ and ‘Letters & Sounds’ (body percussion, rhythm & beat, start & stop, loud & quiet)
Fun Box Jo brings her expertise to the group activities, usually once a week.
The department produces musical productions at Christmas, Easter and the end of the year, all of which use songs, movement and percussion to learn, rehearse and perform.
Music in our Pre-Formal Pathway
Learners on our pre-formal pathway may arrive at class to music playing as a transition reference. Throughout the curriculum music is used through sensory stories e.g. waves, animal sounds. Music lessons are taught using the thematic approach.
All learners have experience of playing a variety of musical instruments throughout the academic year. Percussion instruments are available either from the class’ own collection or on loan from the school’s central store of instruments.
Key Stage 1 all take part in a Christmas production each year and assemblies throughout the year where music is experienced and enjoyed by all.
Learners should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They are exposed too musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
Music in our Semi-Formal Pathway
Learners within our semi-formal pathway use music as an object of reference for transitional periods of the day. Songs are used as greetings, lesson beginnings and endings as well as being useful for calming and settling tools and for gathering.
Music is taught within the theme of the cross-curricular activities, all learners being given opportunities to use their voices and instruments whilst enjoying familiar songs and pieces of recorded music.
FunBox Jo brings her expertise to the group activities and can be enjoyed by many learners on a rotation throughout the year.
Learners should be taught to:
• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• use and understand staff and other musical notations
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
• develop an understanding of the history of music.
Music in our Formal Pathway
Learners within our formal pathway should build on their previous knowledge and skills through performing, composing and listening. They should develop their vocal and/or instrumental fluency, accuracy and expressiveness; and understand musical structures, styles, genres and traditions, identifying the expressive use of musical dimensions. They should listen with increasing discrimination and awareness to inform their practice as musicians. They should use technologies appropriately and appreciate and understand a wide range of musical contexts and styles.
Learners should be taught to:
• play and perform confidently in a range of solo and ensemble contexts using their voice, playing instruments musically, fluently and with accuracy and expression
• improvise and compose; and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions
• use staff and other relevant notations appropriately and accurately in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions
• identify and use the inter-related dimensions of music expressively and with increasing sophistication, including use of tonalities, different types of scales and other musical devices
• listen with increasing discrimination to a wide range of music from great composers and musicians
• develop a deepening understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history.