Creative

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.

Aims

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
• Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
• Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

(National Curriculum, Sept 2013)

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

Aims

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
• Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
• Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others.
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

(National Curriculum, Sept 2013)

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A highquality 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.

Aims

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.
• Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.
• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

(National Curriculum, Sept 2013)

Drama is a statutory part of English in the National Curriculum for England (2013). The Spoken Language section now reads as follows:
All pupils should be enabled to participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils should be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role. They should 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.

• Role-play and other drama techniques can help pupils to identify with and explore characters. In these ways, they extend their understanding of what they read and have opportunities to try out the language they have listened to.
• Drama and role-play can contribute to the quality of pupils’ writing by providing opportunities for pupils to develop and order their ideas through playing roles and improvising scenes in various settings.
• In years 3 and 4, pupils should become more familiar with and confident in using language in a greater variety of situations, for a variety of audiences and purposes, including through drama, formal presentations and debate.
• Reading, re-reading, and rehearsing poems and plays for presentation and performance give pupils opportunities to discuss language, including vocabulary, extending their interest in the meaning and origin of words. Pupils should be encouraged to use drama approaches to understand how to perform plays and poems to support their understanding of the meaning. These activities also provide them with an incentive to find out what expression is required, so feeding into comprehension.

(https://dramaresource.com/teaching/drama-in-the-national-curriculum/)

The ‘outdoors’ can be interpreted in a range of ways within education, from outdoor learning environments in the EYFS to adventurous activities involving external providers. For the purpose of this study, however, the research questions have been concentrated on the development of the culture of using outdoor learning spaces within or close to the school grounds.
In recent years, both the DfES (2006) and Ofsted (2004) have highlighted the importance of the use of outdoor education and resources relating to this are currently supported on the DfE’s website. The recent Tickell review into the EYFS (2011:27) recommends that ‘playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically are highlighted… as three characteristics of effective teaching and learning’. Implicit in this statement is, one could safely argue, that such activities are carried out outdoors as well as indoors.
When interviewed as part of this research, Professor Nicholas Gair, Chairman of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain, school governor and author of Outdoor Education: theory and practice (1997), said that:
All major industries and companies are investing money for teambuilding and management training using the outdoors. If they’re prepared to do that, it’s logical we should be using these strategies in schools.
He went on to say:
The skill set that you derive from outdoor learning includes everything that society determines is valuable.
The potential impact on pupils was summarised by a local authority adviser interviewed:
Increasing evidence through the school improvement agenda shows that learning outside the classroom increases pupil engagement, improves achievement, can progress attainment and links to improved attendance.

(Leadership for embedding outdoor learning within the primary curriculum, Spring 2012)