The Arts

Our vision:

At West Town Primary Academy (WTPA), we believe children should be given the opportunity to develop their curiosity about the world in which they live through creativeness and The Arts.

The Arts consist of visual art; art lessons, music and dance.  The children take part in an art and music lesson once a week. The children are also taught dance by a specialist dance teacher. These lesson are for blocks of 6 weeks.

Every child, regardless of academic ability and socioeconomic backgrounds, can benefit from experiencing The Arts and can reach and gain successes. Valuable knowledge, skills and understanding is taught through a wide variety of creative arts-based activities and experiences which helps the children to make clear links and connections with the world around them, which in turn further prepares them for their future successes. Opening the doors and the children’s thoughts for life beyond primary school and their own locality, whilst holding dear their primary school years and their local community, truly increases and extends the opportunities, experiences and horizons available.

We recognise that The Arts promotes self-expression and is fundamental to developing the children’s knowledge, skills and well-being. Providing children with the opportunity to take part in The Arts positively impacts on their well-being, happiness, confidence and self-esteem.

Intent:

At West Town Primary Academy, The Arts is linked to and threaded through our creative curriculum; it is developed and embedded through our curriculum intent, ethos and implementation.  Our aim is to develop knowledge and skillsets creatively whilst using different media and techniques which are also shared and enjoyed throughout the academy and further afield. Our curriculum actively encourages imagination, aspiration, creativity, discussion and debates,  questioning, talk and building upon the views and ideas of others, in a respectful way.

We aim to provide a range of skill sets and cultural experiences through different media, such as: visitors from arts groups and performance/dance groups, musicians, workshops, authors, visits and links to theatres, arts trails, concert halls, museums, galleries, multi-arts venues, plus by participating in and holding various competitions and events.

The children are taught and encouraged to question, reason and apply critical thinking skills such as observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem solving, and decision making whilst carrying out different activities. Teaching and learning inspire the children to converse with their talk partners, their peers and the staff, as well as reflecting by themselves both within lessons and during the school day.

Each year group explores different areas of The Arts and different arts media throughout the academic year. The children are introduced to a range of resources, vocabulary and experiences which keeps learning engaging and enjoyable. Teachers aim to make relevant links across the curriculum to ensure that teaching and learning is pertinent, meaningful and accessible for all children within a range of subject areas linked to their arts topic and activities including English, maths, science, the foundations subjects including Philosophy, Religion and Ethics (PRE) and Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), as well as within the natural environment. PSHE and British Values are threaded and promoted throughout planning, teaching and learning. This cohesive approach leads the children to enjoy and discover new experiences and opportunities which in turn inspires and equips them with the knowledge, skills and aspirations to shape how they, and we, live in our rapidly changing society.

By providing children with the opportunity to listen to a variety of music styles and sounds, our aim is to broaden each child’s musical horizons and encourage them to be open minded about the music they listen to.

Details of curriculum content, topics, knowledge and the skills progression can be found within the curriculum overviews.

Implementation:

The children of West Town Primary Academy enjoy being creative.  By studying a range of artists and their styles, the children will develop an exciting and diverse range of artistic skills. They will be given the opportunity to work with a wide selection of media including pencils, clay, pastels, a range of paints and a variety of musical instruments.  All pupils are provided with a sketch book to showcase their work and show the progression of their taught skills as well as holding an arts showcase afternoon that allows children to share their work with other classes with in school. The showcase allows children to reflect on the work the have produce as well as celebrate with others their final pieces.

Our Arts curriculum is varied and can look very different in classrooms throughout our academy, from events planned and activities taught using different arts media, to reading texts about different areas pertaining to The Arts, to hands-on activities, workshops, visits to museums and different arts venues, plus online virtual experiences. 

Here are some examples of our recent artwork.

Reception:

The children have been using chalk to draw faces and to show different emotions.

KS1:

In Year 1 & 2 the children have learnt about being architects and created their own building in a street.

KS2:

In year 3 and 4 the children have been exploring using a range of materials such as charcoal and have been creating their own cave drawings

In year 5 and 6 the children have been looking at drawing 2d images and then creating a 3D model of their image.

The children took part in the Peterborough field of colour arts festival. The children created a range of flowers using plastic bottles.

The flowers were then displayed at Ferry meadows over the summer.

We currently hold the Gold Artsmark and are working towards re-establishing the Gold Award.  We work hard to provide different learning opportunities which further develop and extend participation in and enjoyment of a range of The Arts-based activities.

To achieve our Artsmark Award accredited by Arts Council England, we had to develop our arts and culture provision to embed a broad and ambitious curriculum. This was achieved by creating an overall plan for arts and culture that was committed to and delivered across the whole school. The children have regular opportunities to experience The Arts outside the classroom, from visits to the local area (including Peterborough Cathedral and local theatres).

The Artsmark assessor commended our school for how it has embedded the drive for the arts across the school. The final report highlighted several key areas including the school’s “long-term commitment to arts and culture which is having measurable effects on staff and pupils

Artsmark is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It supports them to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education across the whole curriculum, bringing learning to life for children and young people

The report also congratulated our school for its successful partnerships with UROCK, Metal Culture and ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company, which the report said “is great for pupils”.

“Students have provided feedback indicating that our creative arts program is both enjoyable and enriching. They describe it as fun, expressive, interactive, and conducive to building confidence, creativity, and collaboration. One student specifically mentioned realising significant personal growth in terms of confidence, independence, and self-esteem. In today’s society, such experiences are invaluable.”

Dr Darren Henley OBE, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, said:“I would like to congratulate West Town Primary Academyon their Artsmark Award. Becoming an Artsmark school demonstrates that through offering a broad, ambitious and creative curriculum, young people have the opportunity to develop character and resilience, increasing their knowledge, curiosity and skills that will remain with them through to adult life.”

Create day:

Year 6 children participated in a day of singing, dancing and design hosted by the Royal Opera House, celebrating the UN Rights of the Child in collaboration with UNICEF. The day aimed to highlight the experience of children who are denied these rights due to conflict, war, persecution or natural disaster. 

In preparation for the day-long event, our children completed a series of English, art, singing and dance lessons with a focus on the above. On the day, we joined together with many other schools from across the country to join in a mass participation performance with dancers and singers from the Royal Ballet and Opera.

To finish, year 6 invited some of our key stage 2 children to enjoy watching their wonderful final performance piece.