Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. Through high-quality art and design education we engage, inspire and challenge our pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.
Creative arts play a significant role in nurturing creativity of our children. St Patrick’s broad, stimulating and continuously expanding curriculum aims at developing a unique and well-rounded individual. By engaging in experiences within the Creative arts, our pupils recognise and communicate feelings and emotions, both their own and those of others, in many different ways.
Creative Arts, as one of the key learning areas in our curriculum, aims to develop pupils’ literacies in Visual Arts, Design, Drama, Movement and Music. It also helps them to explore, clarify and communicate ideas, feelings, experiences and understandings in these art forms. This learning area plays a vital role in enabling pupils to enhance their creative talents and develop their artistic skills.
Creative Arts play a central role in shaping our children’s sense of personal, social and cultural identity.
Learning through the Creative Arts also plays an important role in supporting our pupils to recognise and value the variety and vitality of cultures locally, nationally and globally. Specialist studies in the Creative Arts prepare our pupils to advance their learning beyond primary education at St Patrick’s and contributes to a variety of careers in the creative industries.
Study of Creative Arts builds our pupils’ artistic skills, knowledge and understanding. It helps sharpen our pupils’ perception of their world and give them new ways of looking at and experiencing their lives. Through the development of artistic literacy, creating, presenting, viewing, and listening, our pupils are able to participate in, interpret, value, and enjoy the arts throughout their lives. All are encouraged to express themselves through a huge variety of mediums and processes, regardless of their abilities.
At St Patrick’s, every child is an artist surrounded by an abundance of inspiration. Creative arts enable our pupils to develop an appreciation of aesthetic and cultural values, identities and broaden understanding of arts in local and global context, both past and present. Therefore, it provides opportunities assisting our pupils in development of a life-long appreciation of Creative Arts.
Drama provides pupils with opportunities to look at contemporary drama practices of making, performing and appreciating drama. These drama practices enable pupils to be active, experiential, and reflective, and pupils develop knowledge, understanding and skills that pertain to each of these practices. They are also provided with opportunities to play the part of actors, directors, playwrights, designers and stage managers.
Music and movement helps pupils to develop their skills in performing, composing, notating and analysing music. We provide our pupils with opportunities to express their thoughts through performing vocally and instrumentally; create and compose short rhythmic and melodic patterns for a given scale using traditional /non-traditional instruments; identify notes and symbols in the treble and bass clef; use terms relating musical elements; identify music forms, instrument families. Music and movement enhances pupils’ self-esteem, balance, co-ordination and body awareness.
Visual arts consist of a broad range of fields, including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, design, traditional and fine crafts, photography, and electronic arts. The strand encourages self-expression, imagination, sensitivity, conceptual thinking, powers of observation, an analytical ability and practical attitudes. Through this strand, pupils also develop their visual literacy by looking at, responding to, and critically analysing a wide variety of artworks from different historical periods, styles and cultures. Our Art Studio is bright, colourful and engaging and well-resourced. It offers an interactive space during lessons to be as creative as possible, whilst expressing themselves through the wonderful world of Art.
1 Longfield Avenue
Walthamstow
London
E17 7DP
Tel: 0208 509 4321
Email: school@st-patricks.waltham.sch.uk