MUSIC
Intent
At Maltby Manor Academy, our intent is for every child to recognise and embrace their own musical potential, fostering a life-long love and appreciation of music. We believe music is a powerful and universal form of expression that enriches learning, nurtures creativity, and strengthens our school community.
We follow the Kapow Primary Music scheme to provide a clear, progressive framework that ensures pupils develop as confident performers, imaginative composers, and attentive listeners. Through this scheme, children are introduced to music from diverse cultures, traditions, and historical periods, encouraging respect and appreciation for a wide range of musical styles.
Pupils develop the core skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing, and listening with understanding and purpose. They also gain knowledge of musical notation, the interrelated dimensions of music, and the cultural and historical context in which music is created.
Our music curriculum also promotes transferable skills—teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, creative thinking, and presentation—that enhance learning across the curriculum and prepare children for life beyond school. Kapow’s carefully sequenced progression enables pupils to meet and exceed the National Curriculum attainment targets by the end of each key stage, equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to enjoy and participate in music throughout their lives.
Implementation
At Maltby Manor Academy, our music curriculum is delivered through the Kapow Primary Music scheme, ensuring that learning is carefully sequenced, progressive, and engaging for all pupils. Musical learning begins in EYFS, where children explore sounds, sing songs, move to music, and develop early listening skills. This provides the foundations for the progressive curriculum that continues through Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Music is taught weekly in all year groups, providing consistent opportunities for pupils to build and consolidate their skills over time. This regular timetable reflects our commitment to ensuring music remains a valued and integral part of our curriculum, not an occasional extra.
We take a holistic approach to music, in which the key strands of musical learning are woven together to create rich and inspiring experiences:
- Listening and evaluating
- Creating sound
- Notation
- Improvising and composing
- Performing
Each unit is taught through a cross-curricular theme designed to spark curiosity and encourage exploration. Over time, pupils learn to sing fluently and expressively, and to perform confidently on both tuned and untuned instruments with accuracy, control, and sensitivity. They develop a secure understanding of the interrelated dimensions of music—pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture, and dynamics—and use these creatively in their own improvisations and compositions.
To support delivery, staff have access to high-quality digital and physical resources, including classroom instruments, audio-visual equipment, and the full suite of Kapow lesson materials. These tools allow teachers to model techniques effectively, demonstrate key concepts clearly, and provide pupils with hands-on, practical experiences.
Beyond the classroom, we raise the profile of music through a wide range of enrichment opportunities. Pupils can participate in our school choir, perform in Christmas productions, and take part in large-scale events such as One Voice and collaborative performances with Rotherham Opera. We also engage with the local community through events like the Maltby Miners’ Band collaboration, offering pupils real-world performance experiences. These activities enable children to perform to audiences beyond the school, building their confidence and fostering a sense of pride in their achievements.
Our Progression of Knowledge and Skills document ensures that all National Curriculum attainment targets are fully covered and that learning builds on prior knowledge in line with Kapow’s spiral curriculum model. This enables children to revisit and deepen understanding over time, tackling increasingly complex tasks and refining core skills. Pupils also explore the history of music, a variety of musical traditions, and how music is recorded and notated, giving them a rounded and meaningful understanding of the subject.
By the end of Key Stage 2, our pupils leave as confident, skilled, and enthusiastic musicians, with both the technical knowledge and the creative confidence to continue their musical journey.
impact
The impact of our music curriculum at Maltby Manor Academy is monitored continuously through a combination of formative and summative assessment opportunities. Using the Kapow Primary Music scheme, each lesson includes clear guidance to help teachers assess pupils against the specific learning objectives. Throughout lessons, Assessment for Learning strategies—such as questioning, observation of practical work, and peer and self-assessment—allow staff to identify misconceptions and address them immediately.
In EYFS, pupils develop early musical skills through singing, listening, and exploring sound, which form the building blocks for the more structured learning in later years.
At the end of each unit, pupils often take part in a performance, providing a summative assessment opportunity where teachers can evaluate their progress in performing, composing, and listening. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in retaining key vocabulary, concepts, and skills, encouraging recall and helping them make connections across units.
Progress in music is tracked using our school’s assessment systems, with teachers recording attainment against the National Curriculum objectives for each year group. Evidence is gathered through video and audio recordings, photographs of practical work, annotated planning, pupil voice interviews, and using Seesaw to capture and store pupil work, performances, and compositions. This enables both staff and pupils to reflect on progress over time and celebrate achievements. These records are used to monitor individual attainment and whole-class development, informing planning, targeted support, and enrichment opportunities.
By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils will:
- Be confident performers, composers, and listeners, able to express themselves musically in and beyond school.
- Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world, understanding how music is shaped by its cultural, social, and historical contexts.
- Understand the various forms of musical notation and how these support performance and composition.
- Demonstrate enthusiasm for music and articulate their personal musical preferences with confidence.
- Meet or exceed the end-of-key-stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Music.
Ultimately, pupils leave Maltby Manor Academy equipped with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to continue their musical journey into secondary education and beyond, ready to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives.