Music Mark

Recordings of two webinars chaired by Bridget Whyte and Phil Castang where panellists discuss the refreshed National Plan for Music Education in England and answer your questions.

We are compiling resources and additional information relating to the National Plan for Music Education 2022: The Power of Music to Change Lives

This resource, written by Sam Stimpson, provides information and advice on the expectation of Arts Council England when it comes to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Case studies and guidance for meaningfully incorporating Youth Voice into your music education organisation.

Watch recordings of the training sessions from our September 2021 CPD Day.

Watch recordings of the training sessions from our January 2022 CPD Day.

This research report was commissioned by Music Mark, in partnership with London Music Education Hubs, written and prepared by Samantha Spence.

Resources from our online sessions curated by Nate Holder of Why Music, exploring rap, hip hop, blues, Steel Pan, and Islam & music.

A resource pack covering employment, contracts, IR35, DBS checks, holiday pay and more.

Budgets, policies, debt, contracts, reports, bookkeeping, VAT, strategy… learn more in this series of resources and recorded webinars.

A series of webinars to support understanding and implementing each area of the Talk into Action pledge.

Susan Hallam and Evangelos Himonides, authors of The Power of Music: An Exploration of the Evidence, present their research.

Recordings and resources from our webinar series with Musicians Without Borders.

Keynote speech and performance using MiMu gloves from singer, songwriter and music technologist Kris Halpin from Music Mark Annual Conference in Brighton, 2021.

Information to refer to regarding  regarding Child Performance Licensing now that live performances have resumed post pandemic.

Recording of our online Q&A session with Viki Smith, General Manager and Abigail D’Amore of the Printed Music Licensing Limited.

Take a look at our annual review for the academic year 2020/21 to find out how we have been supporting our members and the wider music education sector, and how we plan to continue to support, connect, and influence in future.

Recommendations from Talk into Action pledgees of books, podcasts, social media accounts and video content they’ve engaged with and found valuable. You might be an avid reader looking to add titles to your shelf, looking for some thought-provoking video or audio or a keen Instagram user hoping to expand your feed – there should be something here for all of you. We’d like to keep growing this list so if you’ve read, seen, or heard something that’s positively contributed to your EDI journey recently, please email info@musicmark.org.uk and let us know.

Watch the three training sessions from our April 2021 CPD Day.

Notes and slides from our Youth Voice Series exploring a range of ways to incorporate the voices of young people in organisational decision making.

This resource includes videos of headteachers, teachers and music hub heads discussing whole class ensemble teaching. Scroll down to the bottom of the site for videos of whole class ensemble teaching taking place in primary schools.

Recording and transcript of keynote speech from the award-winning composer, music historian and broadcaster Howard Goodall, given at our Autumn Term CPD Day in September 2021.

A summary of the Partnership Innovation Fund projects we’ve supported as part of the Underpinning Hubs for the Future programme. This fund was launched in 2021 to help Music Education Hubs to stabilise and grow following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Download our free, printable A3 Get Playing poster celebrating 10 0f the many benefits of musical learning, to share and display with your own network.

Get Playing is a national campaign which celebrates some of the amazing benefits of musical learning, whilst signposting young learners to their local music hub/service.

Rewatch the three sessions from our Spring Term CPD Day in January 2021.

Music Mark is delighted to offer an enhanced variety of training and resources to help support the development of Music Education Hubs through two programmes – Underpinning Hubs for the Future and the Workforce Development Programme.

A research report exploring workforce diversity and representation in London Music Education Hubs through the lens of racism. This research report was commissioned by Music Mark, in partnership with London Music Education Hubs, written and prepared by Samantha Spence.

A digitised copy of Reaching Out: Music Education with ‘hard to reach’ young people (2013)

As part of the Hub Support Programme, Music Mark are running a mentoring scheme utilising the considerable experience and knowledge within the sector. Find out about our existing mentors and apply to be a mentee.

10 Things Schools Should Know About Music – Welsh Translation
Cerddoriaeth: 10 Peth y Dylai Ysgolion Wybod

Viki Smith, General Manager of Printed Music Licensing Limited, and Abigail D’Amore lead this Q&A session covering the Music Service Licence and the School’s Printed Music Licence.

Rewatch the three training sessions from our first CPD Day in September.

Information about the sessions from our previous and upcoming termly CPD Days, including links to recordings of previous sessions for Music Mark members.

Music leader and Zoom facilitator James Redwood shares the games, exercises and approaches he has found effective in leading workshops remotely.

On the 20th November 2020, we ran our first ever virtual conference, Play On: the Music in Music Education, for our colleagues across the country and beyond. Watch our short video and read about some of our highlights! 

Music Mark has collated a selection of resources intended to support mental health and wellbeing.

We are pleased to present our first ever Annual Review for the academic year 2019/20. Read more about what we have been doing over the past academic year for our members and the wider music education sector, and how we plan to continue to support, connect, and influence in future.

Music Mark conducted a quick survey of its English membership music services at the start of October to see how engagement with schools was compared to the start of the 2019/20 academic year. We have published the results and report here.

A letter template available in English and Welsh to send to schools advocating for the continuation of musical learning in schools under the risk assessments and safety guidance of Music Unlocked. 

Sing Up and Music Mark commissioned Professor Martin Ashley to write some up-to-date guidance for schools in relation to managing coronavirus risks associated with singing for the start of the new academic year. We have deliberately waited until there was some concrete evidence to base this guidance on, and Professor Ashley has provided his guidance in the light of research published 20.08.20.

We’re pleased to announce our new Music Education Hub Support Programme in partnership with and funded by Arts Council England.

We have created a template to help you write to your local MP regarding music education in schools for the academic year 20/21.

We hosted our first entirely digital Summer Summit on 26th June 2020. There were speakers from ACE, DfE, Music Teacher’s Association and the wider Music Education sector. We discussed key topics relating to funding, music education in schools and the possibilities for ensemble learning now. Listen again here!

In addition to our Music Unlocked guidance these risk assessments have been prepared for use by Music Mark Members to support with the safe return to Music Teaching in schools.

Music Mark has worked alongside independent Music Education consultant Gary Griffiths to compile COVID-19 related guidance so you can make music safely in and out of school.

We have reviewed academic studies, and consulted our Members, the Music Teachers’ Association, the Music Industries Association, the Incorporated Society of Musicians and the Musicians’ Union, as well as individual sector experts, headteachers and teachers.

The latest news from Music Mark HQ!

Following on from her article for Music Mark, Rachel Pink leads a webinar focusing on techniques to boost wellbeing and resilience in the light of the current pandemic. Rachel explores how to create personalised self-care plans to aid viewers through these challenging times and beyond.  And how to better communicate with...

Two supplements to Nigel M Taylor’s Developing Organisational Resilience document.

In light of the unprecedented challenges to “normal” ways of working, thinking and planning,
brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the brief for this supplement was to:

• Offer some thoughts to music education organisations on dealing with the “now”
• Discuss an emerging trend, and some associated issues
• Set out a few thoughts on the future
• Remind colleagues of the original Organisational Resilience document

The supplements cannot, and will not, pretend to be comprehensive. Instead, the can only be a
snapshot-response to a brief set in the most fast-paced of changing scenarios and challenges. Its
contents are, for the most part, common sense. But its intention is to try to be helpful in these most turbulent of times.

Arts Council have funded Supplement #2 (July 2020) to support Hubs in creating their business stabilisation plans.

Music Mark has collated information on how Music Education providers can adapt their provision for online learning including some key safeguarding considerations for this new way of working.

The latest information available on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Music Mark’s 2019 Conference took place in Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield exploring the theme, ‘Play the Bigger Game’.

Music Mark and the Musicians’ Union are delighted to launch a set of three guides which will provide advice and guidance to organisations who are engaging the music education workforce.

Speech by Bridget Whyte at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Music Education (APPG) forum, October 16th 2019.

Following a series of consultations involving its members over a 3 week period, Music Mark has produced this Consultation Paper to inform the Department of Education’s (DfE) Expert Panel for the development of a Model Music Curriculum.

The DfE and MERYC-ENGLAND joined discussions on a refreshed National Plan for Music Education.

UPDATED: A guide for Music Hubs by Nigel M Taylor, commissioned by Music Mark and supported by Arts Council England, as part of Music Mark’s wider Leadership Development Programme.

Find the latest Music Mark consultation as well as research from Sussex University and Ofsted presented at the Music Mark Annual Conference 2018.

Music Mark shares its October 2018 consultation of its members on the future of the National Plan for Music Education, pulled together by Music Mark Trustee Maureen Hanke.

Reporters Jack Solloway and Sam Nead from Voice, the magazine for young creatives supported by Trinity College London, will be taking over the Music Mark social media channels to bring you live and rolling coverage throughout the conference.

These General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) templates were produced as part of Music Mark’s Training on GDPR, led by Advice Partners Bates Wells.

Whole Class Ensemble Teaching (WCET) Research Report, commissioned by Music Mark and with Arts Council funding, lead by Professor Martin Fautley from Birmingham City University.

Watch Dr Ally Daubney and Duncan Mackrill (University of Sussex) revealing the key findings of their research into changes in music provision in secondary schools.

Research and film clips illustrating successful approaches to Whole Class Ensemble Teaching (WCET)

ReadThis is a useful resource for members in supporting professional practice and development by combining case studies and top-tips for teaching and learning.

We conceived of a programme that would connect London’s music teachers with each other in a way that transcended the barriers of their school gates.

ReadThis is a useful resource for members in supporting professional practice and development by combining case studies and top-tips for teaching and learning.

Working with Nigel Taylor, Music Mark developed a system that can be used to audit a school’s music provision.

The Musical Bridges Programme, originally funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, provided resources, ideas, case studies as well as a comprehensive programme of transition activity to support pupils’ continuing musical journey from primary to secondary school.

As part of the Peer-to-Peer CPD Programme, Music Mark developed a progression framework to aid teachers in planning for musical progress.

Twenty years after it’s original publication, A Common Approach – the essential framework for a meaningful musical learning journey – has been relaunched, expanded and developed for the contemporary music educator.

An article published by National Governors’ Association in the September 2015 edition of Governing Matters explains what governors can do to ensure all pupils receive their musical entitlement.

Music Mark brought together colleagues from a range of education organisations to consider the production of some brief guidance for schools and music education hubs on how music in schools might be further developed and improved.

This booklet summarises the 10 key benefits of music, from recognition within the ‘National Plan for Music Education ‘ that music is an educational building block through to the inclusive nature of music irrespective of abilities.

Music Mark has collaborated with the National Governors’ Association and Arts Council England to create two guidance documents for governors in schools. (2016)

Music Mark has collaborated with the National Governors’ Association and Arts Council England to create two guidance documents for governors in schools. (2016)