Music

Music Intent

Click to download the Music Learning Journey

 

Introduction

Music at Oxclose Academy sits within a larger Performing Arts Faculty. It is currently delivered by two music specialists who are highly qualified and experienced teachers. We are supported by six freelance peripatetic tutors.

The Music Department has two well-equipped rooms, five practice rooms with piano and drum kits, a recording studio and music office. Music classrooms are equipped with thirty keyboards, with additional access to specialist ukuleles, djembes, guitars, amplifiers, samba, soprano steel pans and a variety of pitched, handheld percussion instruments. Additionally one room has computers with Soundtrap, Yustudio and Cubase installed. All students also have access to their own IPad allowing them to access additional musical resources including Garageband.

Our KS3 Music Curriculum has been designed to engage, inspire and challenge students focusing on composing, performing, listening and appraising and to build upon prior knowledge at KS2. As students join us from a wide catchment area of different primary schools, our aims are to build confidence within the main four skills and to introduce the foundations of music theory, playing a variety of instruments and promote engagement and motivation during lesson time in a practical way. By being creative, experimental and inventive, our students are encouraged to work individually, in pairs or within a group ensemble to equip themselves with knowledge, understanding and skills within various genres. Students also begin to understand and recognise how music shapes their daily emotions, whether being through diverse cultures, history or daily life.

Curriculum Structure

At Oxclose Community Academy, the music curriculum has its foundations based on the National Curriculum while incorporating elements from the Model Music Curriculum (March 2021). The music curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure that knowledge and skills are developed logically, building and extending prior knowledge from module to module. There is a golden thread running through each module of allowing pupils to incrementally become better at core performance skills on a range of instruments, and with their voice. By developing pupils’ technical control of instruments and their voice, they can further explore the constructive and expressive aspects of music. The repertoire used for each module at each stage of the curriculum is carefully chosen to exemplify and support pupils’ acquisition of knowledge and skills and is taken from a wide range of styles and genres. While developing pupils’ cultural capital through broadening their musical landscape, it also allows pupils to see how a concept is used across styles rather than exclusively within one. The Key Stage Three curriculum also allows students to develop the appropriate knowledge to access Key Stage Four pathways whilst also developing a lifelong love of music.

Key Stage Three Curriculum

Performing – for all pupils to be able to fluently perform melodies that use a range of an octave adding either a simple LH root note bassline or chord accompaniment to the melody. They will add expression to their playing through appropriate tempos and articulation. They will perform vocal melodies accurately and with expression and be able to maintain a bassline or simple harmony part.

Composing – for all pupils to be able to compose a melody with appropriate accompaniment (chords/bassline) in a range of keys in both a classical and pop/rock style.

Listening – for all pupils to be able to accurately describe the technical features of a piece of music and evaluate its impact on the listener or occasion it was composed for.

Overview 

An overview of the music curriculum for each year group:

	Module 1	Module 2	Module 3
Year 7	Bridging Unit   To understand and use the Elements of Music in a range of practical settings	Musical Structures This module provides students with an understanding of some of the key musical structures that are used by composers to create their music.	Musical Cliches This module introduces students to some key compositional devices which have been used by composers and developed into cliches.
Year 8	Indonesian Gamelan With a focus on ensemble, this unit introduces the Indonesian music of Gamelan.  Students are asked to look at this music within its historical context, exploring the Wayang Kulit puppet show and looking at the aural tradition of the music.	Blues Music Building on the knowledge of chords acquired in year 7, students will explore the slave trade and the music which developed into the Blues. Students will explore field hollers, spirituals and Call and Response, before developing an understanding of the 12 bar blues.	Hooks and Riffs Building directly from Blues, students will gain an appreciation of patterns in music and how composers and musicians use hooks and riffs to capture the listener.
Year 9	Film Music Students will explore genres of film soundtrack: action/thrillers, western and horror soundtracks. They will also explore Leitmotifs and how they are used to represent characters or situations in films. They should consider how themes are used in film soundtracks and perform a number of film themes, before applying this knowledge to compose a soundtrack for a given video clip, exploring cue sheets to create music to fit with exact timings.	The Beatles Building on Hooks and Riffs and Blues, students will begin to explore the origins of British Pop Music through a Deep Dive into the music of The Beatles.	Pop Music Building directly on the former unit, students will explore various styles of popular song. Learning how artists and groups have created different musical arrangements of the same song. Study the different structural elements and how they are sequenced horizontally to produce the classic form of a popular song and how different textural layers can be combined vertically.

Key Stage 4 Curriculum

At KS 4 we offer Pearson Btec Level 1/2 Technical Award in Music Practice. This course allows pupils to specialise in Music through three units of work. Unit 1 requires students to explore a range of musical genres and produce three short musical extracts based on these styles. Unit 2 provides a brief for pupils to develop a performance and composition on their own area of choosing, whilst demonstrating musical development in their skills. Unit 3 requires pupils to think on a larger scale and prepare an arrangement of a given song in a new style, drawing upon the performance and compositional skills developed during components 1 and 2.

 

Co-curricular music

This is about opportunities for pupils to sing and play music, outside of lesson time, including choirs, ensembles and bands, and how pupils can make progress in music beyond the core curriculum.

Instrumental & Vocal Groups & Clubs

Oxclose Community Academy offers a range of opportunities which are open to all students across all year groups.

Choir – we run a weekly choir which pupils from all year groups can access. It is non auditioned; all pupils are welcome. We perform a range of music including pop, musical theatre, Classical and sacred. The choir perform in the school Christmas and Summer performances as well as performing in the wider community. This has included the Sunderland Singing Day, OAP Christmas parties and work with our feeder primary schools

Orchestra –  All pupils are welcome to join, on any instrument and any ability. Parts are adapted to pupil’s instruments and abilities. The orchestra support the Christmas concert as well as performing in the summer term in a celebration concert.

Production – we offer pupils the opportunity to take part in a musical every year. Only main parts are auditioned, ensemble roles are open to everyone who would like to take part. Past shows have included  Shrek the Musical, Matilda and School of Rock Jr.

Rehearsal spaces – we have 5 practice rooms within the department which are used for small group tuition and available for pupils to use for personal rehearsal during specified lunchtimes.

Peripatetic Offer

Oxclose Community Academy offers peripatetic music lessons delivered by specialist instrumental teachers designed to enhance students' musical education through individualised instruction. This offer provides opportunities for students to receive tuition in a variety of instruments, fostering a diverse and enriching learning environment on a small group basis. Pupils who sign up for peripatetic lessons receive a lesson every week with some instruments available for loan.

We currently offer lessons in;

• Woodwind (flute, clarinet or saxophone)
• Guitar (acoustic, electric or bass guitar)
• Strings (violin)
• Brass (trumpet, tenor horn & trombone)
• Drums
• Singing

Charging and Remissions Information

Oxclose Community Academy charges a nominal fee for peripatetic music lessons to supplement a small proportion of the cost of hiring specialist musicians/teachers and hire of the instrument where appropriate. The full cost of tuition is subsidised by the school. However, the school is committed to ensuring that all students can access this offer and potential remissions are available on a case-by-case basis. All students in receipt of the Pupil Premium are eligible for free music lessons.

 

Musical experiences

This is about all the other musical events and opportunities that we organise, such as singing in assembly, concerts and shows, and trips to professional concerts.

We have a commitment to produce a performance each term to ensure pupils have access to a range of opportunities to perform to an audience both within school and in the wider community.

 

Academic Year 2025/26

October 2025 - Visiting workshop with the National Theatre

December 2025 – School Christmas Cracker Concert

December 2025 – OAP and feeder primary performances

December 2025 – Inter House Talent Variety Show

March 2026 – Sunderland Sings

March 2026 – Search for a Star Competition

March/April 2026 – School Production - “School of Rock” including primary performances

May 2026 – Summer BTEC performance and showcase

July 2026 – Summer Concert

Additional theatre visits and workshops to be arranged as they become available