Intent

At Barlby we ensure a well-rounded musical education that caters to every child’s needs and interests and covers a broad and diverse range of repertoire, approaches, and musical traditions. Our curriculum supports a fully integrated approach to musical development, connecting the interrelated strands of singing, playing, improvising, composing, listening and appraising. Our aim is to develop a life-long relationship with music for all children, from the instrumental players to the listeners, singers and composers. By placing equal value on all aspects of music, we strive to support children to develop musically across the three pillars of progression referred to in Ofsted’s Music Research Review (2021); technical, constructive and expressive. We challenge the barriers to learning an instrument through providing whole class instrumental lessons on percussion, ukulele and ocarina, over a number of years to allow children a degree of confidence and competency on an instrument, supported by co - curricular clubs that are no cost for all children to access, to support ongoing progress. We connect our children to outside agencies to further their musical ambitions wherever we can, through strong ties to the local music hub, the Royal Albert Hall, Inspire Works and our local area through events with the Portobello Market. For our students at Barlby, music is a vehicle for personal expression and plays an important role in their personal development. We believe that music should be accessible for every pupil in our school and that it provides opportunities for physical, intellectual, imaginative and spiritual development. Successful participation in music develops pupils’ self-esteem, confidence, well-being and learning skills. It is an effective medium for self-expression and creativity. We believe music enhances co-operative working and promotes a strong sense of community. Our ambition is that every child moves on to secondary school feeling that they had an opportunity to express themselves through music and explore their creativity; understanding that hard work, dedication,

and perseverance have a positive impact on progress, and feeling that they were fully celebrated by friends, family and our school community at every stage.