Every school ‘expected’ to publish summary of Music Development Plan, says DfE

Schools in England are ‘expected’ to publish a summary of their Music Development Plan on their websites before the start of the 2024/25 academic year, the government has said.

The move represents a hardening of tone from the guidance set out in NPME2, which said that ‘publishing the school development plan on the school website may also help families to understand how their children will benefit from school music’.

The DfE said the summary will help schools to ‘raise awareness of their Music Development Plan’, ‘promote the school music offer to parents and prospective parents’, and ‘give greater opportunity for schools and music hubs to work together’.

However, the new expectation is non-statutory, since there is no legal requirement for schools to have a music development plan in place, nor follow guidance set out in the NPME.

To help schools publish the summary, the DfE has worked with teachers and leaders at primary and secondary level to create a summary template for schools to use or adapt.

In addition to setting out ‘how the school will deliver high-quality music provision in curriculum music, co-curricular music and musical experiences’, the summary should ‘refer to any existing partnership with your local music hub or other music education organisations that supports the school with music provision’.

‘Schools should then update the summary before the start of each new academic year,’ the guidance continues.

The news follows data published by Schools Week that revealed almost a quarter of secondary schools are not meeting the expectation for KS3 pupils to be given at least one hour per week of classroom music, as set out in NPME2.

The data, collected from a Teacher Tapp survey of 1,256 senior leaders in state secondary schools in April, found that 16% of schools were teaching music for less than an hour a week, 2% were not teaching the subject at all, and 5% were offering music as part of a carousel with other subjects.