Curriculum & Assessment

   Click KS3 for Curriculum Maps

Music is celebrated at Fernhill with great enthusiasm and the curriculum is designed to engage and inspire students by introducing them to a range of topics, instruments and skills.  By making personal musical choices and then listening to a wide range of styles, students learn about the context and history of music, its rich cultural diversity and use the understanding they have gained to develop their performance and composition work.  We want to engage students from the very start and in everything that we do; we always try to make links with what they are experiencing and listening to outside of school as this motivates them to succeed, leading to fantastic progress in Key Stage 3. 

The National Curriculum emphasises the need to develop the students’ potential by focusing on what they can achieve rather than diverting them with areas where they may struggle.  This leads to a more confident, fulfilling and fun approach that ultimately creates a more well-rounded musician which is certainly our ethos here at Fernhill.

The three-year Music curriculum at Fernhill gives students an excellent platform to create and perform exciting musical pieces as well as develop performance, composition and listening skills should they wish to opt for GCSE Music at Key Stage 4.  By learning to work and create both individually and in groups it helps to increase self-confidence and a sense of achievement as well as developing communication and teambuilding skills. 


 

  Click KS4 for Curriculum Maps

GCSE Music follows on from work that students have done at Key Stage 3; they will continue to develop their skills in performing and composing different types of music, they will also listen to and analyse a wide variety of music and learn more about how and why it was written and/or performed. The listening exam is worth 40% of the students’ final grade and is completed at the end of the course; this area is an important focus in both Year 10 and Year 11 lessons and for homework, and this theory will also feed into the practical work that they complete.

Students complete two compositions, one in Year 10 and one in Year 11.  The first composition is a free-choice task and can be written for any instrument(s) and in any style.  The second composition is based on a chosen stimulus set by the exam board.  Students will often have to attend compulsory help sessions for support in developing their ideas.

The final area of focus is on performance work.  Students have to record solo and ensemble pieces and this is where we see some our students gaining their highest marks as the performances are what really excites them.

https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/219378-specification-accredited-gcse-music-j536.pdf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zpf3cdm