The Arts – Curriculum Intent
Our Arts curriculum is designed to progressively develop children’s skills to build a bank of techniques and knowledge to enable them to become artists in their own right. Opportunities are provided frequently to celebrate the children’s artistic achievements. Performances to varying audiences enable the children to grow in confidence throughout their school life. Children are exposed to the work of great musicians and artists to widen their cultural experiences and to develop their appreciation of the diversity within the arts.
Art
In Art lessons, children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing and 3D work using varied mediums and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. We have an Art specialist Mr Anthony Bullock who comes in to teach Art across the trust to one year group per half term which enables the children to create some fantastic final pieces as well as building up the relevant skills in their sketch books. Teachers gain knowledge, confidence and skill from Mr Bullock to be able to deliver Art lessons in the future.
As a school we are working towards our Artsmark award, we have submitted our statement of commitment and aspire to achieve Bronze in the coming year. At Dean Field we have high aspirations that we will be able to achieve higher than Bronze as we continue along our improvement journey. One of the ways we are working towards this is by appointing an some Art Ambassadors, two children from each class that will oversee the Arts that is going on in our school. We will be holding another Art Week which was incredibly successful in the past year. At the end of the Arts Week we will hold an Art gallery to showcase the children’s work to the other classes in school and to the parents/carers.
Music
At Dean Field we aim for our Music lessons to be exciting and engaging. We follow a scheme called Charanga which ensures the children are getting quality music lessons throughout the year. At least one half terms worth of lessons should focus on teaching the children the skill of a music instrument, progressing in difficulty as they move through school. Allowing the children a taste of varied musical instruments promotes curiosity and excitement surrounding Music and gives opportunities to try things they otherwise may not have the chance to ever play.
Every week, the children take part in whole school singing assemblies which are fun and engaging and teach children to sing in tune with other people. From the Spring term onwards we will have a school choir that take part in varied performances for different purposes.
Drama
Drama is intertwined with English within the curriculum. Classes are encouraged to use drama and acting as a way of bringing English to life. Through the use of our whole school app Seesaw we are able to record their performances and play them back to aid with writing in lessons that follow. By doing this we are promoting confidence and voice projection. We also build on these skills through class assemblies that each class take part in every half term.
There is also an afterschool Drama club that runs for Years 3 to 6. Through this Drama club we are allowing those with an interest in Drama to express themselves and explore Drama further. We will be working towards a Christmas performance and the children who attend will take some ownership in the play we choose and the roles they take on.