Music Hubs
Sparkyard: working in partnership with music hubs and music services to provide support for the new National Plan for Music Education.
Sparkyard is Out of the Ark Music’s new subscription service.
With over three decades of expertise in creating songs and resources for primary schools and a deep understanding of music hubs and services, we are well-equipped to assist music hubs in delivering quality songs and materials to schools.
Our bespoke music-hub partnerships allow us to develop solutions aligned with their specific needs, helping to promote singing in schools and supporting the objectives of the National Plan for Music Education.
Our Personal Service
Meet Pete, our Education Partnerships Lead. He’s here explaining in a little detail how we can support music hubs and services with Sparkyard
To find out more about partnership opportunities or to schedule a video call
How will Sparkyard help my music hub or service achieve its objectives?
Through Sparkyard, we can help you to support schools to produce their Music Development Plans, and to realize the ambition of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education.
Access to over 1000 age-appropriate songs from Out of the Ark
All of our songs are available with vocal tracks (recorded by great-sounding children’s voices) and backing tracks, allowing even teachers who lack confidence to model songs effectively to their classes.
Supporting co-curricular music, integrating singing into every lesson
A huge range of songs and resources designed to make it easy to encourage singing throughout the school day, supporting learning across the curriculum, developing school and class routines, and enriching assemblies and performance events.
A broad, ambitious and flexible music curriculum
Designed to develop the subject knowledge and confidence of all teachers, the Sparkyard Music Curriculum provides teachers with a clear sequence of musical activities to use in the primary classroom. It uses a skills-based approach where key musical concepts and themes are developed and revisited across the year groups, building on knowledge and understanding at every stage.
Access to innovative features such as collections and home-sharing
Teachers can collaborate to curate personalized collections of songs and resources, or share song links, allowing children to sing the songs wherever they are, and strengthening the bond between school and home.
Best Price Guarantee
A partnership between your music hub or service and Out of the Ark will guarantee your schools the best price possible for their Sparkyard subscription.
30% discount
Your schools will all be entitled to claim a 30% discount on their Sparkyard subscription, and you’ll be able to offer them fully or part-funded quality CPD to ensure high impact.
We’re getting well connected
Take a look at our growing list of hub and service partners
What our hub partners and schools are saying about Sparkyard
Music And Drama Education Awards 2023
WINNER - OUTSTANDING MUSIC EDUCATION RESOURCE.
The judges praised Sparkyard as a significant, comprehensive resource for primary teachers. The judges highlighted the affordability of the resource for schools with varying budgets, and applauded its potential for effective use by specialist music teachers, and non-musicians.
Sparkyard is an amazing resource for music specialists and non-specialists alike. It is easy to navigate, contains useful links between songs, activities, listening examples and many other resources and we love using it in Salford because it is so accessible for the learner and teacher alike. It gives our young musicians a range of age-appropriate resources that are fun to sing and do and helps teachers plan lessons, assemblies and musical events using high-quality material.
We were delighted to be introduced to the Sparkyard resources and to promote them with our schools in Derbyshire. Our singing team have really enjoyed having access to a wide variety of songs and have used them successfully in their projects. The on-screen lyrics are very easy to follow and are clearly presented. When working with schools to review their music curriculum there has been lots of positive feedback from schools who have adapted the Sparkyard curriculum across all year groups. These materials clearly address the requirements of the Model Music Curriculum and support schools to fulfil the expectations of the new National Plan for Music.
We asked a cross-section of teachers, both specialist and non-specialist, to trial it for us: without exception, they all agreed it was something they would want for their school.
More and more schools are turning to the music hub in Sheffield asking for help to build a quality curriculum offer. We are delighted to be able to tell them about Sparkyard. Not only does it build on the much-loved, tried-and-tested Out of the Ark material but it gives a clear and accessible framework for schools who want to improve the confidence and skills of their teachers. Great resources, accessible materials and clear curriculum frameworks make Sparkyard a winning combination for us.
The free trial is well worth looking at. The website is easy to navigate, the content is awesome and from a class that groaned when music lessons were mentioned, we ended the year with them repeatedly asking to do music – they love all the songs and they have great fun composing their own music and rhythms. I can’t wait for us to take this to the whole school in September. As someone who does not have a musical background, I’ve found this so easy to follow and understand. It has given me so much more confidence to teach the subject. Huge congratulations Out of the Ark Music for creating such a superb resource.
My aim is to have a ‘singing classroom’ and Sparkyard is an ideal tool for supporting this – the knock-on effects for wellbeing and literacy/speech and language development are well-documented.
Our students already loved singing and Sparkyard bought some new and very fresh repertoire to the classroom. Outstanding design for the primary school age-group.