"Progression-Led Curriculum" Music Programmes of Study

A progression-led KS3 music curriculum designed to develop musicianship skills.

This resource reimagines Key Stage 3 music around musical development rather than rotating genres or disconnected units. Organised through carefully sequenced musical questions, it ensures that skills build cumulatively across Years 7 and 8, with clear progression in tacit, procedural and declarative knowledge.

Pupils move from staying together and copying patterns, to shaping ideas with intention, rehearsing independently and justifying musical decisions using appropriate language. Styles and repertoire are used as contexts for learning, not endpoints in themselves, allowing teachers flexibility while maintaining coherent progression.

The programmes of study include:

• Clear musical questions for each term
• Knowledge progression across tacit, procedural and declarative domains
• Embedded rehearsal and refinement cycles
• Ongoing assessment and DIRT opportunities
• Endpoints that prepare pupils for GCSE-style musical thinking
• A structure that supports inclusion, agency and adaptable repertoire choices

Designed to make musical progress visible, measurable and meaningful, this curriculum supports teachers in developing confident, reflective and increasingly independent young musicians.