Music at Portsdown Primary School and Early Years 

At Portsdown we aim to deliver a high quality music education which is designed to inspire all children to make music with others; to learn to sing; and to have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence if they wish to. Music can help children develop co-ordination, communication and confidence whilst they are having lots of fun! At Portsdown we provide children with the opportunity to learn and play a variety of instruments whilst developing an understanding of musical composition and how to organise and manipulate ideas within musical structures. Music can enhance children’s sensory development, improve and support learning in literacy and numeracy and allow children to explore a range of musical genres.

Early Years 

Children in Early Years will have the opportunity to explore and respond to a range of songs, poems and rhymes. They will begin to  develop their own rhythmic sounds and movements in response to what they see and hear. They will also begin to explore and experiment with a range of instruments, choosing particular sounds to express their own imaginative ideas.

KS1

Children will begin to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. They will learn to play and explore tuned and untuned instruments within different musical genres. Children will practise listening with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music. They will start to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

KS2

Children will be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They will develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. At Portsdown children should be taught to: play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. Also to improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music. Children will practise listening with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural. Children will have exposure to a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians which will enable them to develop an understanding of the history of music.