At St Peter and St Paul Church Primary, we follow the Charanga Model Music Curriculum scheme of work. Charanga aligns with the national curriculum ensuring that learners revisit the interrelated dimensions of music: pulse, voice, pitch and rhythm-building upon previous learning and skills. The learning within this scheme is based on: listening and appraising, musical activities, creating and exploring, and singing and performing.  

Each Charanga unit involves a variety of musical activities, centred around given songs: 

• Understanding Music
• Listen and Respond
• Learn to Sing the Song
• Play your Instruments with the song
• Improvise with the song
• Composition- Compose with the Song, Create a Graphic Score (KS1) Compose with a Theme, Music Notepad, Quickbeats (KS2)
• Perform the Song

For each of the musical activities above, the knowledge and skills are specified and key learning and outcomes clarified.

The spiral design of Charanga provides the opportunity for children to be immersed in music-making activities that deepen over the course of the six years. More specifically, musical elements and concepts that are introduced to young children are continually revisited in more complex and intricate ways as children progress through subsequent year groups. As lessons progress through the units and year groups, key learning is repeated, musical skills are reinforced and the learning deepens

Music is taught as a separate subject and all learners from EYFS receive a weekly music lesson supported by Charanga. Each weekly lesson will always involve the following activities:

1. Understanding Music

2. Listen and Respond

3. Learn to Sing the Song

4. Perform the Song

In some weekly lessons, there will be options for playing instruments, improvising and composing. All activities are incorporated over the course of each unit in every year group and are connected as part of each performance.

In addition to the taught music curriculum, learners listen to a range of music styles and genres in Collective Worship, as well as having opportunities to learn and perform songs as part of whole school celebrations e.g. Harvest and Christmas. Our pupils also perform a Nativity in Reception and an end of year show at the end of Key Stage 1.