Music, Art and Design and Technology

Music 

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” - Bob Marley  

We grow in Music because:  

At Irthlingborough Junior School, we believe in the transformational power of music. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity; it speaks to all when words fail. Bringing children together to make music within and beyond the classroom not only strengthens our community, promoting social cohesion throughout our school and town, but it also serves as an antidote to the perceived loneliness that some children experience as they grow up. Music certainly supports the development of our pupils from within, improving their health and wellbeing by stimulating the brain, reducing stress and enhancing their mood. We know that the joy of music supports the well-being of our staff and students alike, contributing to the warm, welcoming atmosphere that runs through our school. 

Our music education also aims to facilitate increased learning in other subject areas by helping children to develop communication, concentration and creative thinking skills that they can use in all facets of their lives, now and in the future. Music provides children with enhanced thinking capacities, improved spatial-temporal skills, and stronger memory recall, physically changing their brains for the better and making learning easier across the curriculum as a whole. Music can also build the confidence and resilience needed to thrive in the world today. Learning a musical instrument or developing vocal control provides a platform for people to achieve through discipline and perseverance. Meanwhile, as valued member of an ensemble, pupils will develop strong teamwork and leadership skills - important aspects of our school values- and gain a real sense of achievement and pride. It also provides an opportunity for children from all social and cultural backgrounds to express themselves, including those with additional needs.  

It is our vision to empower all pupils to develop confidence in themselves and find joy in sharing this with others, developing a lifelong love of music. 

We grow in Music by:    

• Performing, listening to, reviewing and evaluating music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.  

• Learning to sing and to use our voices, to create and compose music independently and with others, having the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, using technology appropriately and having the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.  

• Understanding and exploring how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.  

We grow in Music when:  

At Irthlingborough Junior School, music is taught using a blocked curriculum approach. This ensures children are able to develop depth in their knowledge and skills over the duration of each of their music units. Teachers use the ‘Kapow’ condensed curriculum scheme as a starting point for the planning of their music lessons, which are often richly link to engaging contexts in other subjects and topics. Employing cross-curricular links motivates pupils and supports them to make connections and remember the steps they have been taught. Knowledge and skills are mapped across each unit and year group to ensure systematic progression. The implementation of the curriculum also ensures a balanced coverage of different genres of music. To enable good progression and a smooth transition for our children, Irthlingborough Infant School also teaches using ‘Kapow.’  

At Irthlingborough Junior School, children are encouraged to sing alongside their peers every week, as a class in Wednesday Worship sessions and as a year group in assemblies. All children have the opportunity to join the School Choir. This is a fun afterschool session where staff and students can sing a variety of music together. The Choir regularly perform in concerts, and at a local Care Home, as well as taking part in big events like Young Voices at the Birmingham Arena and The Big Sing at the Derngate Theatre, Northampton. There is also the opportunity to have instrumental lessons in Woodwind, Strings, Guitar, Piano and Drums. These lessons are delivered by teachers from NMPAT during the school day.   

Art and Design 

“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelou 

We grow in Art and Design because:  

At Irthlingborough Junior School, art and design is an essential part of our primary curriculum; we see the value in the subject and view it as an important part of our pupils’ entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Art allows our children to develop their imagination and creative thinking, encourages them to make connections through their inventive minds, and gives them the skills to record these ideas visually. It provides opportunities for pupils to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas, and challenges them to think deeply about these. It encourages expression and visual thinking, which in turn helps our children to learn in other subjects. Indeed, art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity – something which our school places great importance on, with creativity being one of our character values. 

The Art and Design curriculum at Irthlingborough Junior School is carefully designed to inspire and challenge our pupils to maximise their knowledge and develop their skills, using a range of media and materials. Our children are supported in developing their observational skills through art and design, becoming better observers of the world around them. They utilise sketch books to record these observations – developing their ability to organise and communicate their own ideas in interesting ways - and to review and revisit these ideas over time. Throughout the school, pupils are also introduced to a range of works to develop their knowledge of famous artists, architects and designers, who have influenced the world of art and the world as a whole. Additionally, as they learn about the history, roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact that it has on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures. All of this contributes to their understanding of the world in which they live and promotes the British value of tolerance and respect for others, seeing through the eyes of artists. 

We grow in Art and Design by:  

• Producing creative work, exploring ideas and recording experiences.  

• Becoming proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media and other art, craft and design techniques.  

• Developing increasing control over our skills and use of different materials 

• Evaluating and analysing creative works using the language of art, craft and design.  

• Knowing about leading artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.  

• Gaining an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design 

We grow in Art and Design when:  

• We teach art regularly. The children cover an art topic at least once every other half term (alternating with Design Technology), with additional opportunities to engage with Art and Design activities throughout the school year.  

• Teachers plan lessons for their classes using our progression of knowledge and skills document, linked to the long- and medium-term plans for each unit. This ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught are progressive from year group to year group.   

• We re-teach skills throughout the children’s time in school. Skills and techniques are revisited and honed each year, progressing in terms of depth and challenge, to build on the children’s prior learning.  

• Each child develops their skills and techniques in a way that is appropriate to them, through clear modelling and support, and using a variety of art materials and teaching strategies.  

• Children are introduced to artists and art movements directly linked to the skills or topics they are covering elsewhere in the curriculum where possible, for example in humanities and modern foreign languages.  

• We employ a sketchbook approach, so that children feel confident to experiment and refine their emerging skills. The children use the sketchbook as a place to focus on practising techniques and to gather information for use on a larger piece of work. They can see their progress in different skills over time and feel proud of what they have achieved.   

Design Technology 

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs 

We grow in Design and Technology because:  

At Irthlingborough Junior School, we value Design and Technology as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems, within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on other disciplines, such as mathematics, engineering and art, too; every child will have the opportunity to learn and extend their understanding, experience and application of technology in as wide a variety of situations as possible. Through this, pupils learn to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens.  

The Design and Technology curriculum at Irthlingborough Junior School is carefully designed to inspire creativity and imagination in a practical way. The programme of topics covers the key areas of cooking and nutrition, mechanical and electrical systems, textiles, and structures: areas which prepare our children for life beyond our school. Pupils are also given the opportunity to explore how products have been created in a range of societies, cultures and times, and how design and technology plays a vital role in our society, locally and globally. Its essential contribution to culture, wealth and the well-being of people throughout the world is widely recognised and an appreciation of this is shared with pupils. We also introduce the children to a wide range of specific inventors and artists, so that we may inspire them to find and express their own type of creativity too.   Moreover, learning to cook is a crucial life skill that enables all children to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life. 

Throughout all of this, our DT curriculum promotes the use of team-work and collaborative learning which teaches our children to respect each other and their opinions, in line with our school values.  

We grow in Design and Technology by:   

• Developing the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. 

• Building and applying a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users. 

• Considering both the user (who products are for) and the purpose (which tasks products will perform) of each product designed and created. 

• Selecting and using appropriate tools safely and effectively to make these products. 

• Critiquing, evaluating and testing our own ideas and products, as well as the work of others – considering functionality, design decisions and effectiveness 

• Reflecting and making refinements as the work progresses. 

• Being innovative and authentic – having scope to be original in our thinking while making produces that are real, believable and can be evaluated through use. 

• Exploring attitudes towards the made world and how we live and work within it.   

• Finding enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making. 

• Developing an understanding of technological processes, products, and their manufacture, and their contribution to our society.   

• Understanding and applying the principles of nutrition and healthy eating when learning how to cook. 

We grow in Design and Technology when:  

• We teach design and Technology regularly, covering one topic every other half term (alternating with Art and Design).  

• Teachers plan lessons for their classes using the progression of knowledge and skills document linked to the long and medium-term plans for each unit.  

• Both strands of the curriculum are covered through units each year: designing and making; cooking and nutrition.  

• Each project includes the elements of designing, making, evaluating and developing technical knowledge. 

• Skills and techniques are developed throughout the children’s time in school. They are revisited and honed each year, progressing in terms of depth and challenge, to build on the children’s prior learning.  

• Each child is supported in developing their skills and techniques in a way that is appropriate to them, through clear modelling and support using a variety of materials and teaching strategies.  

• Lessons are built to ensure that pupils can develop imaginative thinking and enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making – they should be able to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas.