Quality Mark
The Music Partnership Quality Mark is awarded to schools in Derbyshire and Derby City which demonstrate good practice in supporting the provision of instrumental teaching and the work of their instrumental teachers.
A leaflet is available containing the information you need to work towards and apply for the Quality Mark, from the more information section.
The award of the Quality Mark follows a successful application and assessment visit.
Why should a school apply for the Quality Mark?
This is an award which will demonstrate that your school is committed to providing quality opportunities for all pupils to learn to play an instrument.
Research shows that children who learn an instrument gain confidence, expertise and emotional intelligence which support and enhance all their learning.
The evidence you provide for the award will also be valuable for informing the OFSTED Self Evaluation Framework and Artsmark applications.
Successful schools will be able to display the Quality Mark logo on their school paper, brochure and other materials for three years, showing your instrumental music provision has been quality assured and recognition given to the standards you expect.
What does a school have to do to gain the Quality Mark?
Self-evaluate your practice against the Quality Mark criteria, known as elements.
Complete the application form. Applications can be submitted at any time during the academic year.
Demonstrate that your school successfully meets all those elements.
If all of the elements are not in place, an action plan can be produced as part of the School Improvement Plan. The Music Partnership can support this process.
What happens following the application?
On receipt of the application form, the Music Partnership will arrange an assessment visit undertaken by a member of the Music Partnership monitoring team.
The assessor will contact the school to agree a mutually convenient date and time for the visit which will last up to half a day.
S/he will outline the format of the visit i.e. the evaluation of the portfolio of evidence and the holding of appropriate discussions. These are likely to include the head teacher, music co-ordinator/head of department, some pupils and a parent.
The initial contact will be followed by a confirmation letter.
The assessment visit and afterwards
During the visit, in addition to evaluating evidence and holding discussions, the assessor may briefly visit any instrumental teaching taking place in the school at that time. This will not be a formal observation of the instrumental teachers.
Following the gathering and evaluation of evidence, the assessor will complete the assessment grid.
The completed grid, the assessor's report and recommendation will be presented to the Music Partnership monitoring team at their termly meeting for their consideration and verification.
The monitoring team will also draw on information from a range of other sources. This will include lesson observation forms completed by members of the team and the views of the instrumental teachers who work in your school.
The school will be notified of the outcome of this meeting. Successful schools will be presented with their Quality Mark at a Music Partnership concert.
Related documents
The following document is in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can download the PDF software for free from the Adobe website (opens in a new window)
The following documents are in Word format. You can download the Word software for free from the Word viewer page (opens in a new window) of the Microsoft website.