Music Development Plan Summary

ASPIRE - LEARN - FLOURISH

The Aspire Learning Federation is made up of two schools - Elm Park Primary School and R J Mitchell Primary School in the London Borough of Havering.

Elm Park Primary Overview

Detail	Information
Academic year that this summary covers	2025- 2026
Date this summary was published	01/09/2025
Date this summary will be reviewed	01/09/2026
Name of the school music lead	Tori Tucker
Name of school leadership team member with responsibility for music (if different)	N/A
Name of local music hub	Havering Music Hub
Name of other music education organisation(s) (if partnership in place)	N/A

This is a summary of how our school delivers music education to all our pupils across three areas – curriculum music, co-curricular provision and musical experiences – and what changes we are planning in future years. This information is to help pupils and parents or carers understand what our school offers and who we work with to support our pupils’ music education.

Part A: Curriculum music

This is about what we teach in lesson time, how much time is spent teaching music and any music qualifications or awards that pupils can achieve.

At Elm Park Primary school we follow the CUSP Music curriculum which is supported by SingUp. It has been purposefully built around the principles of evidence-led practice. The curriculum is carefully designed to build pupils’ musical knowledge and develop their competency and confidence as musicians.

Each block includes the study of significant musicians and musical works, with the intention of exposing pupils to a wide range of music that will inspire them and connect them to the world around them. The curriculum is built to support non-specialist teachers in developing their own subject knowledge and delivering excellence in music education. Core areas of study include singing, listening and appraising, composing and improvising and instrumental performance. These are built cumulatively throughout the curriculum to ensure that all pupils develop their engagement with, and knowledge of, music over time.

This includes a focus on learning to play a range of instruments confidently. CUSP Music aims to build a strong and rich musical culture in schools, in which pupils can thrive.

We aim to teach music for a minimum of 1 hour every fortnight, as well as other opportunities to sing or play together through cross curricular opportunities with other subjects in the curriculum. We also have 8 singing assemblies throughout the year, as well as a weekly listen and appraise assembly that uses music from the Model Music Curriculum.

Children in EYFS will have the opportunity to experiment with percussion instruments and boomwhackers as part of their musical learning through whole class ensemble teaching.

Children in Year 1 and 2 will have the opportunity to experiment with percussion instruments and chime bars as part of their musical learning through whole class ensemble teaching.

Children in Year 3 and 4 will have the opportunity to experiment with percussion instruments and glockenspiels as part of their musical learning through whole class ensemble teaching.

Children in Year 5 and 6 will have the opportunity to experiment with percussion instruments and chime bars as part of their musical learning through whole class ensemble teaching.

Part B: Extra-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.

We have two school choirs, KS1 and KS2, which are free to join and taught by members of school staff as an after school club.

The Key Stage Two choir perform annually at the Young Voices concert at the O2 arena and at the Havering Music School Summer Festival. They also perform at our school Christmas and summer fetes.

The Key Stage One choir will participate in Havering Music Schools Spring Music Festival in partnership with other schools in the borough.

Part C: 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.

Every class performs a special assembly to parents once a year. which includes singing and/or playing of musical instruments.

EYFS and Year 1 each perform a play at Christmas which includes singing.

Year 2 perform a Christmas Nativity in December which includes singing and percussion instruments.

KS2 perform a Christmas Carol concert in December, which is a mix of classical Christmas Hymns and Christmas pop songs.

Year 6 perform a musical production in July.

During Black History month, children are given the opportunity to look at the historical significance of African/American music genres and create performances which are recorded and shared with parents.

In the future

This is about what the school is planning for subsequent years.

In future years, our Music Development plan aims to achieve the following:

Introduction of a wider range of instruments on offer for small group or individual lessons with support from Havering Music Hub peripatetic music teachers.
To provide singing workshops for our Y1 and 2 Talkboost group.
To create an after school club for percussion instruments.
To look at partnerships with the Royal Opera House Create and Sing programme.
Develop a partnership with local secondary school music departments for older children to come and perform/give workshops to our children.
Explore further opportunities to work with Conductive Music and Young Sounds.
To provide further opportunities for children to experience live music performances.

Further information (optional)

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.

The Department for Education publishes a guide for parents and young people on how they can get involved in music in and out of school, and where they can go to for support beyond the school.

Your local music hub should also have a local plan for music education in place from September 2024 that should include useful information.

If your school is part of a multi-academy trust with a trust-wide music development plan, you may also want to include a link to any published information on this plan.