At Blueberry Park, we believe every child is musical. From EYFS to Year 6, children develop the confidence and skills to listen, sing, play, compose, improvise and perform. Through Kapow, our curriculum is carefully structured so that musical learning builds year on year, helping children develop real technical control, creativity and appreciation of music from around the world. This progression is mapped across five key strands used throughout the school: Listening & evaluating, Creating sound, Notation, Improvising & composing, and Performing (singing & playing).

In EYFS, children explore sound through playful, practical experiences that build the foundations for future music learning. They use their voices, bodies and instruments to experiment with different sounds, respond to music through movement, and begin to understand that music can express feelings, stories and ideas. Units such as Exploring Sound, Celebration Music, Musical Stories, Transport and Big Band develop children’s ability to copy rhythms, recognise changes in pitch and tempo, and perform simple songs confidently. These experiences prepare pupils well for the more structured musical learning in Year 1.

In Key Stage 1, children build a secure understanding of the key musical elements: pulse, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, pitch and simple structure. They learn through engaging themes such as My Favourite Things, Snail and Mouse, Seaside, Fairytales, Superheroes, Animals, Space and Under the Sea. Lessons include singing, playing tuned and untuned percussion, moving to music and beginning to use simple musical symbols. Children also explore how music can tell stories, represent characters and describe different environments. This stage establishes firm foundations for composing, improvising and developing technical control in KS2.

In Key Stage 2, musical skills deepen as children revisit key concepts with increasing complexity. They explore a wide range of genres and traditions including ballads, jazz, South & West African music, Indian rag and tal, samba, film music, Baroque music, blues and musical theatre. Children develop singing technique, compose using structures such as pentatonic scales, motifs and variations, and learn to perform with accuracy and expression. Children explore the importance of notation, and by Upper KS2 pupils learn to read and play short phrases from staff notation.