Art at St Nicholas
What does Art look like at St Nicholas?
At St Nicholas School, Art is a part of the curriculum as a whole and integrated with other subjects, although where appropriate can be taught in isolation. Many areas of the curriculum are art ’driven’, for example Rainforest in Geography could ‘feed off’ an Art project.
At St Nicholas school the Croydon Curriculum for Art starts from the beginning of the school all the way up to year 6. All teachers are given the flexibility to assess how best to introduce the five elements of art to their year groups. Also, in the lower year groups, Foundation and Reception this flexibility is important as it will ensure that they are working appropriately with their children and are giving the children as much experience with materials and tools as time and safety considerations allow.
The Art curriculum at St Nicholas School aims to enable children to develop their awareness of the world around them through the medium of art. They will become familiar with different art techniques and develop their creative skills through art. The art curriculum aims to provide children with a wide range of experiences and will allow for progression. The teaching of art at St Nicholas School will encourage personal creativity and imagination and build their confidence and enjoyment. This aims to ensure that every pupil has equal opportunity to progress in the five formal elements; colour, pattern and shape, texture, form and space, line and tone.
- Colour will be taught through painting.
- Pattern and shape will be taught through printing and textiles.
- Texture will be taught through collage and clay.
- Form and space will be taught through 3D work/ clay.
- Line and tone will be taught through drawing.
Class teachers will keep specimens of children’s work in Art folders. The work collected would represent the work achieved from a class set based on a specific project, either from the Croydon Art Curriculum or a substituted project of the class teachers own devising. There would be samples of work from each ‘element’ of the art they represent. These work samples will be kept in school and passed on to the next class teacher. This will provide a way of tracking the children’s attainment as they progress through the school.
Throughout the academic year, we celebrate children’s art work with displays around school. We also have an annual Winter Crafts event for families and a themed whole-school art week in the summer term.
Music at St Nicholas
What does music look like at St Nicholas?
At St Nicholas we recognise that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. 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.
Music is an integral part of children’s lives and we aim to enhance their development by giving them opportunities to make music, listen to music and respond to music. By listening, singing, exploring rhyme and using language to describe feelings and emotions, music can support communication which is so important for our children.
Every class has a weekly music session in a well equipped music room, where they can engage in a wide range of activities including singing, playing instruments, music and movement, and music appreciation. In addition, children from Years 5 & 6 have the opportunity to sing in the choir and take part in events organised by the Croydon Schools Music Association. The children also enjoy performances and workshops by visiting artists.
