The Teaching of The Arts Subjects
At Barons Court we aim to provide our children with an Arts curriculum which is integral to the creative ethos embedded throughout our school. The Arts are key in supporting children to develop their expressive contribution through creative, independent thinking and this enhances learning experiences both academically and holistically. Our Arts curriculum encompasses the subjects of Art and Design, Music and Spoken Language and children experience a range of learning which supports them to use the arts to express their own voice. We strive to challenge artistic boundaries thus offering pupils opportunities to recognise themselves as artists too. We seek to broaden children’s real life experiences both inside and outside of school through visits to local galleries, museums and theatres and we welcome visitors to school such as musicians and visiting artists and performers. All children are provided the opportunity to take part in performances, involving a variety of audiences and wider learning contexts are embedded within our enquiry curriculum to support, inform and enhance pupils’ critical and creative development. Please click on our curriculum maps below to see the learning experiences of children at Barons Court across the Arts curriculum.
Art and Design
Our Art and Design curriculum aims to inspire children to express themselves creatively and imaginatively. Children are introduced to a range of work by both international and local artists as this enables pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding of a wide variety of artistic styles and to experiment with their own skills and interpretation. At Barons Court, we strongly believe that Art and Design embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity and helps to develop children’s imagination, confidence and their ability to express their thoughts and feelings. Children are provided with opportunities to develop and extend their proficiency and skills in drawing, painting, collage, textiles, print, sculpture and digital media. They learn to reflect, develop their own ideas and opinions, articulate and critically discuss work which enhances the opportunities for independent, collaborative, experimental, problem solving learning. We believe that through the teaching of Art and Design, our children can acquire a range of conceptual, social and transferable knowledge and skills which can be applied to enhance and enrich the learning which takes place in other curriculum subjects.
Music
At Barons Court, we believe that music is a unique and powerful form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. We want to ensure that each child has the opportunity to develop musical skills, knowledge and understanding which enables personal expression and reflection. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Our high-quality music enquiry curriculum engages and inspires children to develop a love of music and their talents as musicians, and increases their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Children within our school develop an ability to listen to, and appreciate, a wide variety of musical styles from a range of cultures and periods in history. This enables them to develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose (through graphic and written notation) and explore and express their ideas and feelings about musical compositions. Children are actively involved in using their voices and instruments, both tuned and un-tuned, and develop a sense of group identify and togetherness when rehearsing and performing music to an audience within our school, local and national community.
Spoken Language
At Barons Court, we value Spoken Language as a learning experience which provides opportunities to develop and extend children’s skills and for them to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. We believe the quality and variety of language which children hear are vital for developing their vocabulary and their understanding for reading and writing. Within our Spoken Language curriculum children are provided with opportunities to develop their confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills and they are provided with experiences to develop their capacity to explain their understanding and use the conventions for discussion and debate. All children are encouraged to explore ideas through talk, challenge each other’s opinions and develop their own reasoned arguments, as well as talking in a clear and confident voice. Through our curriculum children participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama and are able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role. They have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances.
