Music Intent Statement  

Thirsk Community Primary School   

Through the Kapow Primary scheme, we aim to ignite a life-long love of music while providing all pupils with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to become expressive performers, creative composers, and thoughtful listeners. Our approach is underpinned by our core values of ambition, compassion, and inclusion, ensuring that every child feels a sense of belonging and pride in their musical journey. 

We believe that music is a universal language that offers a unique way for pupils to express themselves and connect with others. As such, we provide a curriculum that is rich in diversity, introducing children to music from different cultures, communities, and time periods—fostering compassionate engagement with the global and local world.  

Our curriculum is ambitious for all learners, ensuring every child—regardless of ability or background—can succeed. We prioritise inclusion through the use of accessible instruments, differentiated tasks, and regular opportunities for collaborative performance and composition. Pupils engage in singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising, composing, and responding to music, with carefully structured opportunities to build their proficiency and creative confidence over time. 

We prioritise vocabulary and oracy in music as essential tools for deepening understanding. Pupils are explicitly taught musical terminology and are regularly encouraged to describe, explain, and evaluate using subject-specific language. This emphasis on spoken language not only improves children’s musical understanding but also supports their wider communication and cognitive development. 

Our use of Visible Learning strategies enables children to understand how they learn in music. We use clear success criteria, modelling, and visual scaffolds to support cognitive clarity and organisation, helping pupils to retain and apply both substantive knowledge (such as notation, tempo, and pitch) and disciplinary knowledge (such as composition, performance, and analysis). This approach encourages metacognitive reflection, helping pupils to set goals and take ownership of their learning. 

Through our Music curriculum, pupils also develop transferable skills such as collaboration, leadership, problem-solving, and performance. These experiences help to develop confident individuals who can express themselves and connect with others both in and beyond the classroom. 

At Thirsk Community Primary School, our music curriculum supports all children to become ambitious musicians, compassionate appreciators, and inclusive contributors—well-prepared to enjoy and engage with music throughout their lives. 

Music Implementation Statement Thirsk Community Primary School   

At Thirsk Community Primary School, the implementation of our music curriculum, underpinned by the Kapow Primary scheme, reflects our commitment to ambition, compassion, and inclusion. Through a well-sequenced, holistic approach, we provide every pupil with the opportunity to thrive musically, regardless of background or starting point. 

We deliver music through engaging, practical five-lesson units which integrate the core strands of listening and evaluating, creating sound, notation, improvising and composing, and performing.  

Throughout every unit, we champion ambition by encouraging pupils to develop their skills in singing, instrument playing, improvisation, and composition with fluency, confidence, and creativity. Children learn to articulate and apply the interrelated dimensions of music—pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture, and dynamics—within their own compositions and performances, building confidence and musical independence. 

We prioritise vocabulary and oracy within music teaching. Key musical terminology is explicitly taught, revisited, and applied in lessons, enabling pupils to articulate their thinking and reflect deeply on their learning. Discussion, performance critique, and group collaboration are integral to our music lessons, developing pupils’ oracy skills and empowering them to talk confidently about music using subject-specific language. Through these opportunities, children develop the compassionate communication skills vital for group performance and collaborative work. 

Our curriculum is fully inclusive, offering differentiated guidance, adaptive teaching, and accessible resources that ensure all pupils, including those with SEND or EAL, are active participants in music learning. Hands-on activities involving movement, dance, and practical music-making are supported by scaffolded tasks, allowing every learner to engage and excel. Pupils are also given opportunities to extend and challenge their learning in ways that reflect their individual interests and talents. 

We embed visible learning techniques to support cognitive clarity and ensure pupils can organise and internalise their musical understanding. Learning intentions and success criteria are clearly shared and revisited. Pupils use knowledge organisers and visual models of notation and vocabulary to support recall and metacognitive reflection. These strategies reduce cognitive overload and help children make clear connections between the substantive knowledge of music (what music is) and the disciplinary knowledge (how to make and respond to music). 

Our staff are supported through high-quality CPD, including expert-led teacher videos in each unit and further training opportunities, ensuring the delivery of a consistently ambitious and effective music curriculum. Teachers develop confidence in their subject knowledge, modelling musical skills with precision and enthusiasm that inspires pupils. 

At Thirsk Community Primary School, our music curriculum empowers all children to explore, express and enjoy music. By combining rigorous progression, inclusive practice, and deep local relevance, we cultivate musical learners who are ambitious in their creativity, compassionate in their collaboration, and confident in their voice 

Music Impact Statement Thirsk Community Primary School   

At Thirsk Community Primary School, the impact of our music curriculum is measured not only in the development of musical knowledge and skills, but also in the embodiment of our core values: ambition, compassion, and inclusion. Our curriculum—based on the Kapow Primary scheme—is carefully designed to ensure all pupils, regardless of starting point or background, leave our school as confident, expressive and reflective musicians. 

Through a clear progression of musical learning, pupils become ambitious performers, composers and listeners who express themselves musically both in and beyond the classroom. Their growing musical proficiency is supported by regular formative and summative assessment opportunities embedded within each unit. These include practical performance tasks and guided evaluations, enabling teachers to assess pupils’ development across the key strands of music while also celebrating individual creativity and effort. 

Our use of visible learning strategies—such as clear learning objectives, success criteria, and the use of visual knowledge organisers— reduces cognitive overload and helps pupils organise both substantive knowledge (musical concepts, historical context, vocabulary) and disciplinary knowledge (skills in listening, composing, and performing). Through these, routine opportunities for formative assessment are provided.  Pupils can articulate what they are learning, why it matters, and how to improve, demonstrating a growing sense of ownership over their musical journey. 

By the end of Key Stage 2, our pupils will: 

• Be confident and expressive musicians who can perform and compose with creativity and control. 
• Demonstrate a compassionate understanding of musical styles and traditions from a wide range of cultures and communities. 
• Be inclusive and reflective learners, who value the contributions of others and celebrate diversity through music. 
• Use appropriate musical vocabulary and oracy skills to analyse and discuss music with clarity and depth. 
• Understand how music can be recorded and represented, supporting their practical learning. 
• Show ambition and enthusiasm for music, both as a subject and as a lifelong source of joy and connection. 
• Meet and often exceed the National Curriculum expectations for music by the end of Key Stage 2. 

At Thirsk Community Primary School, the impact of our music curriculum is evident in our pupils’ voices, performances, reflections, and growing love for music. They leave us not only with skills and knowledge, but with the confidence, compassion and ambition to engage in music for life.