2026–27 · Music Lead Operating System

The Primary Music Planner

Everything you need to lead music, in one place.

01–04

Plan the year

Vision, this week's timetable, year overview, and a monthly dashboard you'll actually open.

05–09

Teach & develop

Timetable planning, development plan, curriculum, monitoring templates, CPD log.

10–13

Run the subject

Budget, instruments, performances, hub and partner contacts.

14–15

Prove the impact

Evidence bank, monthly health check, and a proper year-end reflection.

Every page answers one question: what does an excellent music lead actually do throughout the year? This planner saves automatically to this browser as you type – use Export backup regularly (Data menu, left) to keep a copy, especially before switching computers or browsers.

Section 01

Annual vision

Start with the big picture. Everything else in this planner should trace back to what you write here.

Three priorities for the year

Three success measures – how will I know?

Section 02

Academic year overview

One page per term. The same six questions, asked three times, so nothing falls between terms.

Show as checklist – tick lines off and they'll strike through
Section 03

Music timetable

This week's music timetable at a glance. Set it up in Plan & teach → Plan the timetable.

Section 04

Monthly dashboard

One spread per month, September to August. Each month also carries a one-minute Health Check – score honestly and the trend does the rest.

Section 05

Plan the timetable

Which class has music, when, with whom, and where. Keep one timetable for the whole year, or switch on a separate one for each term if things move around – some schools keep the same one all year, others don't. This feeds the at-a-glance view in Section 03.

Timetable changes each term
Section 06

Music development plan

Every row here is a priority. Give it an ID – evidence you log later can point straight back to it.

IDPriorityActionsLeadDeadlineStatus
Section 07

Curriculum

A working record, not a policy document – somewhere to think out loud about what's taught and what needs work.

Section 08

Monitoring

Five simple templates. Add an entry each time you do one – they build into your evidence trail automatically.

Section 09

CPD log

Every course, twilight, or watched-a-video-at-10pm counts. Impact and next steps are what make it evidence rather than a list.

DateTrainingImpactNext steps
Section 10

Budget

Kept deliberately simple. Totals below calculate themselves.

Income

SourceAmount (£)

Total: £0

Expenditure

ItemAmount (£)

Total: £0

Balance income − expenditure

£0

Section 11

Instrument inventory

One row per instrument or set. Keep condition current – it's the first thing a repairs conversation needs.

InstrumentConditionStudent/storeroomSerial number
Section 12

Performances

Every event gets a page – including the reflection afterwards, which is the part that usually gets skipped.

Section 13

Music hub & partner contacts

Everyone you might need to reach in a hurry, on one page.

Section 14

Evidence bank

One place to log evidence as it happens, instead of hunting for it in June. Tag each entry to a development-plan priority where you can – that link is what turns a scrapbook into a case for leadership.

Health check

Music health check – trends

Every monthly dashboard (Section 03) ends with a one-page health check, scoring ten dimensions from 1–5. This page pulls all twelve snapshots together so you can see, by July, exactly how far provision has moved – and hand it straight into a governor report.

Scores come straight from the health check at the bottom of each month in Section 03 – nothing to fill in here.

Section 15

Year-end reflection

Same four questions every July. Answer them honestly and next year's priorities write themselves.

Three priorities for next year

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