How can I use the Sparkyard Music Curriculum for assessments?

There are a range of ways that the Sparkyard Music Curriculum can support Formative and Summative Assessment.  

Assessment is built into every lesson in the SY music curriculum  

Every lesson in the Sparkyard Music curriculum has some useful assessment suggestions/’what to look out for’ statements.  These can be used when observing children’s music making and may form the basis of questions to check for pupils understanding and knowledge. Engaging with these questions will enable teachers to build a picture of children’s learning over time. This can then inform assessment of pupils. 

In addition, we encourage peer assessment, and this is built into the lessons and skills progression. E.g. Can the children reflect on their music making (e.g. what worked well/what could we change?)  

Skills Progression 

Our curriculum focuses on the development of key musical skills. These skills are outlined on our skills progression document – take a look at the complete curriculum overview and skills progression (Yr-6)– you will find this on the Music Curriculum page in SY. 

This outlines the key skills the children will develop through the year

Here is a short example taken from the Year 1 Skills Progression. 

These skill statements can inform assessment but are not intended to be used as a ‘tick list’. Teachers can use these statements to build a picture of the child’s learning through the year.  

Creating a musical environment.

Within our Music Curriculum we encourage teachers to create a classroom environment that is set up for 

singing & high-quality music making 

In our Reception Music curriculum for example, we know that children will flourish when they are accessing an environment that encourages and enables singing and music-making. This is why we have included a range of ‘Pick & Mix’ activities in YR that can be used across the course of a week or as part of continuous provision. These activities provide a great opportunity for practitioners to observe children’s music making and can also form part of the ongoing assessment process.  

Collecting Evidence  

In addition, teachers often collect video evidence of children’s music making, incorporating some peer assessment along with verbal responses from the children. This provides a great insight into children’s knowledge and understanding – also a good way of recording the musical vocabulary they use.  

 The Sparkyard music curriculum encourages classes to share their music making and there are suggestions for building in informal performance opportunities in every term. If singing is the focus for the teachers’ assessment, it’s also worth remembering that the Share Link is an excellent way of reinforcing learning at home.  

Building a picture of musical learning 

The key point to remember is that teachers build a picture of children’s learning over time.  If the assessment is built into the lesson, and is used to inform next steps, it will support the children and help them progress. It also makes it much easier for teachers to demonstrate progress, making it useful information to share with other teachers, parents or as part of a school inspection process.