Here at London Colney, we strongly believe in fostering creativity and expression within our pupils. We strive to ensure that our children have ample opportunities to express themselves in a range of ways across a broad and balanced curriculum. Although we know creativity and expression can be nurtured and displayed in many ways, throughout our curriculum we enable children to expressive their creativity through the study of Art, Design and Technology (DT), Music and Modern Foreign Languages (MFL).
Art and Design:
Art and Design at London Colney is mainly taught as part of our thematic approach to learning. Within our Learning Adventure each half term, our pupils have the opportunity to learn, practice and consolidate key skills within art doing so in a cross-curricular, contextual way. Our children also develop their knowledge of art and design through learning about key artists or art for particular periods of time. Our pupils also get to develop their entrepreneurial skills during our focus art week each year. Each class study a famous artist for and finish the week by creating our very own ‘London Colney Art Gallery’, whereby pupils’ art work is displayed and auctioned.
By the time our pupils leave London Colney, we intend to;
- Develop children who are artistically expressive and can communicate their individuality through their artwork. Our children will work to master key skills (painting/sketching/collaging/sculpting/photographing) within art and be selective over which they use when designing and creating key pieces.
- Support pupils to build a portfolio of work based on personal experience and exploration of significant artists over time, reflecting on style and form, building this into their own artistic expression.
- Encourage our children to become reflective artists, evaluating their work by recognising successes, communicating where they feel they could further enhance their pieces and growing their resilience to be able to persevere until outcomes are complete.
- Provide our children opportunities to showcase their artwork and outcomes through the use of galleries that are planned and executed by the children, allowing them to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
Design and Technology:
Similarly to Art and Design, Design and Technology (DT) is taught as part of our thematic approach to learning. Within our Learning Adventure each half term, our pupils have the opportunity to learn, practice and consolidate key skills within DT doing so in a cross-curricular, contextual way. Our children also develop their knowledge of DT through exploring and learning about how design and technology has evolved and changed over history. As well as the embedded, thematic approach to learning, children also engage in a focus DT week, whereby each class has a focus area e.g. vehicles that they spend the week investigating, planning, designing and evaluating their own piece of work. Throughout the year, our children also engage in projects based around food and nutrition.
By the time our pupils leave London Colney, we intend to;
- Provide children with contextualised learning and opportunities to develop and master their design skills in a progressive way. Our children will be supported to plan, do, make and review their work, evaluating pre-existing products and designers to help with the completion of their own projects.
- Allow our children to have ample opportunities to prepare and cook a range of different foods and meals, teaching them how to do so safely whilst also developing their knowledge and understanding of nutrition and a balanced, healthy lifestyle.
- Instil an appreciation of design and technology in our children, supporting them to understand and recognise how the skills learnt can serve them beyond London Colney and in later life.
- Encourage our children to become reflective designers, evaluating their work by recognising successes, communicating where they feel they could further enhance their pieces and growing their resilience to be able to persevere until outcomes are complete.
- Provide our children opportunities to showcase their designs and outcomes through the use of galleries that are planned and executed by the children, allowing them to develop their entrepreneurial skills
Music:
Enjoying and expressing ourselves through music is an integral part of our teaching and learning here at London Colney as we aim to provide our children with a range of musical experiences and opportunities to help broaden and develop their skills and understanding within the subject. As part of our core learning of music, we us Charanga to teach pupils to the key knowledge and skills required in a creative and engaging way. Music is taught fortnightly in each class and the learning is within a contextual unit of work. For example, Year 4 develop their skills in music through the theme of ‘Mamma Mia’. As well as our core learning, we also provide classes with music tuition on a termly basis. These sessions are delivered by a specialist music teacher and the children have the opportunity to learn instruments such as the ukulele, djembe drum and recorder. Our children have the opportunity to showcase their skills in a musical concert performed to their parents and carers. We also strive to ensure that children engage in enriching musical experiences to inspire learning such as attending West End theatre productions.
By the time our pupils leave London Colney, we intend to;
- Create young musicians who grow a love of music and understand that music can be a form of self-expression and individuality. Our children will be exposed to different genres of music, from the past and more contemporary periods and will have a knowledge of different composers and musicians.
- Develop increasingly confident and creatively minded musicians who are knowledgeable about key aspects of composition, such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations and use these to create their own compositions. Our children will also appreciate their voice as an instrument and will engage with a range of singing context.
- Inspire lifelong musicians, providing our children with the opportunity to learn a range of instruments through their time at school. Our children will develop a sense of teamwork and collaboration through completing performances that showcase their musical talents and achievements.
Modern Foreign Languages:
Promoting and valuing culture and diversity is a key virtue we wish to instil in our pupils when being creative and expressing themselves. We believe one aspect of this is having the ability to learn about different countries around the world, including the languages they speak. Our core learning for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) sees our children learning to speak French. Basing our teaching at an age appropriate level, our children have the opportunity to learn and speak key words, phrases and sentences in an engaging way. As well as teaching our children French, we also utilise on some of our pupil’s ability to speak a second language and incorporate this into our classrooms.
By the time our pupils leave London Colney, we intend to;
- Promote diversity and cultural appreciation through the learning of French. Our children will learn to speak French with increasing confidence, being able to recall words, phrases and sentences when required. Our children will make ambitious attempts to write in French to express their thinking.
- Develop respect of other countries and create interested and inquisitive children who are keen to learn about French culture and lifestyle, leading to globally minded citizens.