LNF Cymru Literacy and numeracy for Wales

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GCSE Music

The literacy load sits in the Unit 3 listening paper, where learners give short and extended typed answers on set works and unseen extracts using a long glossary of musical terms, and in the Unit 2 reflective log, which asks them to evaluate their own composing. Numeracy is built into reading and writing music: note values as fractions of a beat, simple and compound time signatures, counting intervals, numbering chords and working to set timings and tempos in BPM. The biggest thing Key Stage 3 should build is the habit of listening closely and then writing precise, well-organised sentences that use the correct musical term, backed by secure rhythm notation.

First taught
September 2025
Amount of literacy work
Medium
Amount of numeracy work
Medium
Specification
Open the WJEC specification (PDF)
How this GCSE is assessed
  • Unit 1: Performing: Non-examination assessment, performance of 4-6 minutes (at least two pieces), marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC, 32.5%, 78 marks
  • Unit 2: Composing: Non-examination assessment, 2 compositions (3-6 minutes total recommended) and a reflective log, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC, 32.5%, 78 marks
  • Unit 3: Appraising: Digital only examination 1 hour 30 minutes, marked by WJEC, 35%, 84 marks

Skills that use Calculation

  1. Note values, rhythm and time signatures

    Assessed: In the exam and in coursework (NEA)

    Learners must read and notate rhythms in simple and compound time, which depends on note values as fractions of a beat, dotted notes adding half their value and bars that add up to the time signature. The glossary also lists structures counted in bars, such as the 32 bar song and 12 bar blues.

    Numeracy: Relationships within the number system, Conceptual understanding, Calculation

    Getting pupils ready

    Year 7
    Pupils clap and write four-beat rhythms using semibreves, minims, crotchets and quavers, checking that each bar adds up to four beats.
    Year 8
    Pupils fill incomplete bars in 3/4 and 4/4, including dotted notes worth one and a half times their value, then compose a rhythm ostinato.
    Year 9
    Pupils group quavers in 2/4 and 6/8, work out how many quavers fill each beat and bar, then notate a Welsh jig rhythm in compound time.
    Show the specification wording and the LNF statements

    Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Section 1.3.4, page 15

    “notate rhythms in simple time and compound time.”
    Progression step 3

    • I can use understanding of simple fraction, decimal and percentage equivalences, e.g. find 25% of 60cm and know that this is equivalent to ¼ of 60cm.

    • I can use and interpret different representations of fractions, e.g. mixed numbers and improper fractions.

    Progression step 4

    • I can represent a concept in different ways, flowing between different representations including verbal, concrete, visual, digital and abstract.

    • I can use the four operations and the connections between them, e.g. apply division as the inverse of multiplication.

    Progression step 5

    • I can draw on my understanding of the basic structures of mathematics and can apply them in different contexts.

    • I can represent a concept in different ways, flowing between different representations including verbal, concrete, visual, digital and abstract.

Good to know

Links with other GCSEs

Appendix A ticks all four literacy strands and three numeracy strands (all except statistics and probability) across Units 1 to 3, pages 22 and 23.

Source: WJEC GCSE Music specification, teaching from 2025, for award from 2027, © WJEC CBAC Ltd. 2024 (no version number printed).