Department: Music
Curriculum Intention:
We believe that every learner, regardless of ability or approach to learning, has the right to expect the same consistent, high, challenging profound quality music education in every music lesson, taught by every teacher across our curriculum team. We recognise Music to be the soundtrack to life and connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. We provide a creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging Spiral curriculum at Huish Episcopi, and aim to engage and inspire our learners to develop a love of the subject and nurture their musical talents. Our vision and values for music at the Academy; At KS3 we explore some of the great musical outputs of human civilisation by looking at a range of composers and styles across the world. Our students develop a wider knowledge of how musical elements are used within composed works and study how to apply the related skills through a challenging spiral curriculum which consists of the pillars of performing, composing and listening. All learners are expected to develop a knowledge and fluency of music notation reading. This foundation of knowledge, concepts and skills will serve GCSE Music and equivalent vocational music courses at the Academy, and beyond into further/higher education and the music industry.
Curriculum Implementation:
Our students complete six topics each year that interrelate and retrieve learned skills and the contextual analysis and evaluation of music genres. Our students can fully integrate with the use of an instrument in the classroom and have consistent access to Cubase pro and notation software at every student workstation. Learners complete a digital portfolio of evidence, where they can track their progress with a student handbook and record live performances using a tablet. Our learners are encouraged to explore additional peripatetic lessons on a specialist instrument and reinforce knowledge and skills in wide range of extra-curricular ensembles, Wider World music opportunities, School concerts, whole school productions and trips to live performances, such as the Bristol Hippodrome and the Octagon Theatre.
Monitoring and assessing curriculum impact:
Students receive regularly verbal feedback during their classroom lessons and are encouraged to reflect on their progress using the student handbook and learning ladders. Whole class feedback is given for each term’s summative assessment. Students are given a code to show their achievement. There is allocated time for the refinement of skills in classroom time, and assessment consists of practical performance activities, set listening tests and small composition assignments. All mentioned are kept in the Students Google Classroom portfolio. Our spiral curriculum ensures our students have the pre-requisite knowledge and skills required to access our GCSE and BTEC music provision in KS4, meaning all of our learners are fully prepared for the performance standards and composition skills needed to complete the given NEA coursework to a high standard.
Department: Music at KS4
Eduqas GCSE Music
The GCSE course allows students development in performance and composition while exploring their understanding of a range of styles of music. They also develop their music technology skills to help in the composition process. The specification here: https://www.eduqas.co.uk/media/by5boopf/eduqas-gcse-music-spec-from-2016-d.pdf
BTEC Level1/Level 2 Tech Award in Music
This course follows the Edexcel Music BTEC Tech Award specification. https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/btec-tec-awards/music-practice/2022/specification-and-sample-assessments/btec-tech-award-music-practice-2022-spec.pdf
