At Chislet, we believe that music is a powerful form of expression that plays an essential role in pupils’ personal development, creativity and well-being. A high-quality music education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, enabling them to develop a love of music and recognise themselves as musical individuals. Through music, pupils explore their creativity, build confidence and develop an understanding of how music reflects and shapes our culture and shared history.

To support the delivery of a rich and inclusive Music curriculum, we have adopted the Kapow Primary Music scheme of work. This scheme is designed to nurture a lifelong love of music while developing the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to become confident performers, composers and listeners. Pupils are introduced to a wide range of musical styles and traditions from across the world, encouraging respect, curiosity and appreciation for music from all cultures and communities.

The Kapow Primary Music curriculum is structured around five strands that run throughout each unit. These strands align with the National Curriculum attainment targets for Music and ensure balanced coverage of both substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills. The five strands are:

• Listening and evaluating
• Creating sound
• Notation
• Improvising and composing
• Performing – singing and playing

Units of lessons are sequential, allowing pupils to build on prior learning and apply their musical skills in a variety of contexts. Key musical concepts and skills are revisited with increasing complexity through a spiral curriculum model, enabling pupils to consolidate and deepen their understanding over time.

Music at Chislet is taught by a specialist music teacher who is based in the school, ensuring continuity, subject expertise and a deep understanding of the curriculum and pupils’ needs. Lessons are delivered in smaller group settings, which allows for high levels of engagement, targeted feedback and individual support. This specialist-led approach enhances pupils’ musical learning by enabling more frequent opportunities to perform, compose and evaluate music. Pupils benefit from expert modelling, accurate use of musical vocabulary and a secure understanding of musical concepts. Smaller group teaching also promotes confidence, collaboration and listening skills, allowing pupils to develop both their musical abilities and transferable skills such as teamwork, leadership and performance confidence.

Pupils develop musical skills through singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising, composing and responding thoughtfully to music. They learn how music is created, organised and notated, and develop an understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of the music they encounter.

In addition to musical knowledge and skills, the scheme supports the development of transferable skills such as teamwork, leadership, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and performance confidence. These skills are integral to pupils’ wider development and have lasting value beyond the music classroom.