Subject leader - Mrs M.Kilgannon 

At Kempshott Junior School, our Music curriculum is designed to be ambitious, relevant and inclusive, enabling all pupils to thrive as creative and practical learners. We aim for all children to develop and express musical understanding, building the confidence to listen, perform and compose with increasing control and creativity.

Our curriculum is underpinned by the Charanga scheme of work, which we have carefully adapted to reflect the needs of our pupils and the context of our school. Pupils follow a coherent, well‑sequenced music curriculum, building secure knowledge and understanding across key areas such as listening, performing and composing. Through this, they develop a strong foundation of substantive knowledge (musical elements, genres, traditions and key concepts) and disciplinary understanding (rehearsing, creating, refining, responding and evaluating).

Music is taught as a distinct subject, enabling pupils to develop subject‑specific skills and think as musicians, creators and performers. Across KS2, pupils build substantive musical knowledge progressively, moving from recalling key musical elements and concepts to applying them confidently in listening, performing and composing, making increasingly sophisticated connections between genres, traditions and musical structures. Pupils also develop their disciplinary understanding by experimenting with sound, refining ideas, rehearsing with increasing control, and evaluating their musical outcomes with growing independence and accuracy.

Literacy and mathematics are woven meaningfully into KS2 music, with pupils using reading skills to interpret musical notation and key information, applying subject‑specific vocabulary to describe and discuss musical features, and drawing on mathematical understanding when counting beats, recognising patterns, organising rhythms and evaluating their work with increasing accuracy.

Pupils experience a ‘windows and mirrors’ approach in music, seeing themselves reflected in the musicians, genres and musical traditions they encounter, while also exploring music, instruments and cultural practices from a wide range of places, communities and time periods.

We are committed to ensuring that all pupils access the full KS2 music curriculum. Through adaptive teaching — including modelling, scaffolding and practical support — barriers are removed without lowering ambition. Every child is supported to develop and apply musical knowledge and skills successfully, building the confidence to listen, perform, compose and respond to music regardless of their starting point.

Through our Music curriculum, pupils develop creativity, technical understanding and practical musicianship, alongside the confidence to take risks, solve problems and apply their learning in real musical contexts. This prepares them for the next stage of their musical education and supports a lifelong appreciation and engagement with music.

 

                                             

 Music Overview                  Music progression                      Road Map