Our creative team is made up of the following subjects:
Art, DT, Music, Drama, Outdoor Learning
The following staff and governors lead our creative team:
Mrs T Farmer, Mrs A Cashmore, Mrs J Walker
Art, DT, Music, Drama, Outdoor Learning
The following staff and governors lead our creative team:
Mrs T Farmer, Mrs A Cashmore, Mrs J Walker
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.
The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:
(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.
The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:
(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.
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
(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.
(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)