Model Music Curriculum

Published on 26 March 2021, the Government has produced a Model Music Curriculum (MMC) for KS1, 2 and 3 to:

  • identify the core concepts needed for pupils to progress through their music education
  • demonstrate how pupils can build on their understanding of these concepts from Y1 - 9
  • offer suggested examples of resources to use for each year group and how to structure lessons around them

You can view our brief overview of the model from the list of documents on this page.  You can also download the MMC itself from the links on this page, as well as the National Plan for Music Education and the recent Headteachers' Guide to Music Education from Music Teacher Magazine.

EMS has produced a guidance document to support schools in interpreting, using and embedding the MMC which can be downloaded from the list of documents on this page, as can the slides from the MMC twilight session on 24th May 2021.

Ofsted statement on the MMC:

The Department for Education's non-statutory Model Music Curriculum (MMC) sets out a clear intention and ambition for music education in key stages 1 - 3 that is both welcome and much needed. 

As with any published or self-created scheme of work, however, the effectiveness of the MMC in any individual school that follows or draws upon it will depend on the way it is implemented and the impact that it has on pupils' learning in that school.

Ofsted's expectation is that

  • schools and academies have clear, well-sequenced plans for the music curriculum that at least match the ambition set out in the National Curriculum (and for the Early Years, key stage 4 and the sixth form, where appropriate)
  • these plans are delivered with sufficient time and resources, and good teaching, with teachers supported well through quality CPD
  • this all has good impact as seen by secure and incremental learning of the technical, constructive and expressive knowledge that pupils need for their future participation in and enjoyment of music.

There will be no pre-requisite from inspectors that schools should adopt the Model Music Curriculum - as the MMC foreword states, it is designed to assist rather than prescribe.  However, there remains every expectation that schools have in place a music curriculum that is ambitious, well-sequenced, implemented well, and which leads to good musical outcomes for all pupils.