Creative Arts
The Arts Council have been telling us about the Arts at Barton St Lawrence. Here are some of their comments:
DRAMA:
EYFS: We liked having the pirate boat as the role play the best. I was the scariest pirate and had to scare away the mermaids.
KS1: I love the role-play; especially the pretending to be space men in the rockets.
I like acting out my own stories in class and when other children act out theirs it can be funny.
KS2: We enjoyed acting our news reports about WW2 and about the evacuees – it was part of our English.
ART:
EYFS: One of the best bits was making an Under the Sea poster to decorate the classroom. We used marblink ink for the fish. I love the creative area because there are always lots of things out so I can make what I want.
KS1: We liked painting the scenery for the nativity and also using batik in different ways to make patterns for the frieze we made for the hall.
KS2: I enjoyed making Ancient Greek vases out of clay and then we painted them. I also liked doing the Anderson shelters. These were sculptures which we made out of paper mache and cardboard. We also enjoyed doing portraits – especially learning how to shade.
DANCE:
EYFS: I really enjoyed learning the Pirate dance. My favourite move was pretending to throw cannonballs.
KS1: I have enjoyed making up own dances with Rachel.
I liked learning the different movements and learning how to do different types of dancing.
KS2: Rachel the teacher is brilliant! She wants us to enjoy dancing and interpreting the music and dance moves differently. She is good at teaching us the techniques, but without pressure and she helps us to practice to try and get it right. The 60s and 70s dances that we learn are amazing.
MUSIC:
EYFS: I like playing the instruments in the outdoor area.
KS1: I have enjoyed playing the notes on the glockenspiels, finding out about the different notes on the stave and seeing what the different notes sound like.
KS2: I enjoy making noise! I like Miss Ingham because she helps us play the recorder and samba.
I prefer recorders because we like making different notes both high and low and we enjoy improvising and composing our own music.
We like learning about Mozart and we have enjoyed making our own interpretation of Eine Klein.
We like using the glockenspiels because we can use more notes than on the recorder like sharps.
WHAT ARE THE ARTS?
The ‘Arts’ are a means by which we can develop our creative flair and imagination. At Barton St Lawrence we are committed to provide such opportunities within visual Art, Music, Poetry, Drama (including role play) and Dance.
NURTURING A CREATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT:
The arts at Barton St Lawrence are at the core of our school and its values. The arts are used as a means to effectively raise achievement across the curriculum, as well as improve self-confidence, creativity and thinking skills. Each art form is given specific curriculum time (at least 15% throughout the year) but also, the arts are used in other curriculum areas to inspire, motivate and challenge.
OUR AIMS:
By promoting creativity at Barton St Lawrence, we aim to provide all pupils with the opportunity to:
• engage in the Arts as makers, performers, exhibitors and as spectators.
• discover and pursue their interests and talents.
• participate in and experience a broad and balanced range of arts activities as part of a rich and exciting curriculum.
• develop a progressive range of skills, confidence and self-esteem.
• perform creatively in class assemblies, shows, festivals and productions.
• Arts activities that access other areas of the curriculum, different cultures and those that reflect our local community.
OUR CURRICULUM PROVISION:
To achieve our aims we will:
• Provide each of the Arts (Art and Design, Dance, Drama, Poetry and Music) as part of the core curriculum with a minimum curriculum time for each subject. At St Lawrence’s the children in each age range experience approximately 15 hours of dance, 50 hours of drama, 45 hours of Art and 35 hours of Music during one academic year. This is approximately 15% of the curriculum.
• Provide our children with at least one opportunity a year to work alongside a professional artist through either workshops with artists or visits to organisations.
• Provide exciting and engaging role-play areas in each EYFS and KS1 classes to encourage high quality drama.
• Provide high quality resources for teaching and learning in each of the art forms.
• Provide children with access to weekly enjoyable arts activities during out of school hours.
• Provide opportunities for the wider community of school including governors, parents and carers to both inform and have access to our arts programme through performances, workshops and exhibitions (both online and offline).
• Monitor the quality of provision in the Arts regularly to ensure children experience high quality teaching in the Arts.
• Ensure that teachers have regular opportunities for professional development in the Arts on an annual basis.
• Provide opportunities for consultation with children to enable them to play an active part in developing arts provision.
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY
We will provide Arts opportunities to all our children, regardless of gender, race, disability or ability to pay. The Arts may be used to develop children’s learning in any area of the curriculum, particularly for those with Special Educational Needs, including our Able and Talented children. To ensure that this is the case, some pupils may be given alternative tasks or tools some may be given access to stimuli in order to compensate for a lack of any first hand experiences, as well as any necessary support that is required.
EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
We offer a range of Arts clubs that can be accessed by pupils. School staff and outside agencies provide a range of out of hours clubs and activities such as street dance club, Glee club, band club, craft club, knitting club and dance club. Clubs mostly take place after school for one hour, and change half-termly to provide a wide range of opportunities for all age ranges. We believe that these less formal opportunities for artistic support allow children to develop their unique and individual style and interests. The clubs allow more scope for ideas to be contributed, as well as consolidating what is taught through the arts curriculum.
WHOLE SCHOOL ANNUAL EVENTS
We actively encourage parental support and participation in these activities:
• KS1 and EYFS Christmas production.
• End of year summer production produced by KS2.
• End of topic celebrations with parents.
- Musical celebrations and performances in assemblies
- Sing Together performance at King George's Hall
• Art Exhibitions at the Great Eccleston Show and the Harris Open Exhibition.
•Music and Art and Craft competition entries at community events such as Preston Guild, church events and Barton Grange Garden Centre.
Our 2022 End of Ks2 production was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Year 4,5 and 6 all worked their socks off to put on a fabulous production for parents. Have a look at some of the photos below.
PLANNING, ASSESSMENT, PROGRESSION AND EVALUATION:
Barton has individual policies for Art, Music, Dance (part of the PE policy) and Drama (part of the English policy). Individual arts policies are evaluated and reviewed by curriculum leaders and governors.
• Half-termly curriculum maps for each age range within the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 show an overview of our contexts for learning and identify how the arts are being taught within in each context. These maps are sent home to parents.
• Detailed medium and short term plans emphasize important cross curricular links within the arts and are based on the National Curriculum Programmes of Study.
• Individual subject leaders monitor half-termly plans. Progression of skills across year groups is identified and monitored. Issues that may indicate needs for further development are placed on a yearly subject development plan. Steps to achieving such targets for development are outlined on a yearly audit of each subject. These are then placed on the whole school development plan. Termly updates are written by each subject leader which are fed back to the SLT and governors.
• Lessons and children’s work are evaluated by staff and on-going teacher assessments are made in order to inform future planning and report back to parents.
