The Arts at Southfield
‘The Arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic …music, dance, painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.’
At Southfield Primary School, the Creative Arts encompass a range of subjects, including performance across art, music, dance and drama. It is our belief that a cohesive Arts education will help to identify and meet key objectives which run through all these subjects.
Our environment stimulates creativity and innovation to enable our children to unleash their imagination.
We believe that by developing skills in creative and performing arts we develop a child's individuality and self-confidence.
Art and Design
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Edgar Degas
Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.
They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
Our Art and Design Curriculum Statement
Dance
“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon.” Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat
Dance transforms images, ideas and feelings into sequences of movement that are personally and socially significant.
Dance allows people to discover, explore and develop their natural instincts for movement, enabling students of dance to develop not only their motor skills but also their mental and emotional personalities.
The National Curriculum states that in Key Stage 1, pupils should develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. In Key Stage 2, pupils should continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement.
Drama
"The most valuable asset a nation has is the creativity of its children." Alan Plater (Playwright)
Drama is an artform, a practical activity and an intellectual discipline. A drama education, which begins naturally with learning through dramatic play, will eventually include many elements of theatre. Like the other arts, it involves imagination and feelings and helps us to make sense of the world. It does this through the creation of imagined characters and situations, and the relationships and events that they encounter.
Music
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Plato (Ancient Greek philosopher)
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon