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Statutory guidance

National curriculum in England

programmes of study

(updated 26 March 2021)

Teaching Music in Schools

Model Music Curriculum

(published 26 March 2021)  NB this is non-statutory so there is no requirement to follow it

Research Review Series: Music

A review of research into factors that influence the quality of music education in schools in England

(published 12 July 2021)

Hwb

​Curriculum for Wales

Expressive Arts

(updated January 2021)

Experiences and Outcomes

(as at July 2021)

Musical Development Matters

(published September 2018, now expressly included in the EYFS Strategy)

The Arts/Music

(as at July 2021)

Eire

(as at July 2021)

Primary

National Strategy

Letters and Sounds

(as at July 2021)

National Plan for Music Education
UK, July 2022

Music Mark webinar (2022) - Ofsted’s Christopher Stevens, HMI National Lead for music, on effective assessment of music in schools (subsequent advice has been consistent)

Primary Music Toolkit
written by Dr. Alison Daubney to help teachers better understand what music teaching is and how it can be utilised (2019)

OFSTED's Subject Report Series: Music
UK, September 2023

Primary Skills Progression
This document is my personal skills progression.  It has been developed over several years and is necessarily flexible and under continuous review.  It audits well against the Model Music Curriculum, although my progression in rhythm notation differs (I don't like what the MMC does in this regard!).  Clicking the link will download an editable Excel spreadsheet with each strand as a different tab.  I do not use this as a tick-box exercise (see Music Mark webinar linked above) but as a document to inform planning.  Assessment is continuous and formative within lessons and from lesson to lesson; video evidence is kept to show "children becoming more musical over time".

Find your Music Service/Hub by clicking the link to Arts Council England - scroll down to their XLS document.  Music hubs have a variety of things to offer from instrumental and curriculum teaching by specialist peripatetic teachers to providing support and training for classroom teachers.  They administer and provide First Access projects (subsidised and in some areas free for at least the first half term).  Some provide free curriculum resources to support classroom teaching, extending to entire units of work in some cases - some of these are available to all, other hubs require you to be a "member" which typically means belonging to a school within their catchment.

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Music Mark provides advice, training and links to free and paid for resources.  The Music Mark Schools programme has ended and been replaced by the Music Mark of Recognition (sign up via your local Music Hub).  Music Mark of Recognition Schools will not receive access to member-only content.  Their new "Universal Offer" is their free offer of training, events, resources, newsletters and more that schools can access by navigating their website.  As well as Music Mark's own training and resources, the website "hosts listings from across the sector, making it the one-stop directory for music education professional development".  There is also a paid-for level of membership to which schools can subscribe.

Pedagogy and training:

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