Expressive Arts and Design
Expressive Arts and Design Rationale PDF
Intent
Expressive Art stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and provides our children with a unique way of understanding and responding to the world around them. Our Expressive Arts curriculum at Hawthorns includes Art, Music and Design Technology.
All Hawthorns children are given the opportunity to experience and create and experience art in a stimulating, enjoyable, practical and sensory way. The Arts curriculum is tailored to meet individual needs and takes account of the children's levels of development.
Our Expressive Arts curriculum will be fun, meaningful and linked to the children’s everyday life to provide context. Through this curriculum, we will enable children to communicate what they see, feel, think and hear through the use of colour, texture, materials, music and movement. Expressive Arts opportunities will be cross curricular and are planned to enrich and enhance our children’s learning journey throughout their time with us at Hawthorns School.
Implementation
How children experience the Expressive Arts curriculum at Hawthorns School will vary and largley depends on the pathway they follow. At the early stages, our curriculum intends to provide children the opportunity to explore and engage with the world around them in a multi sensory way. Beyond this and where appropriate, children will be taught to develop their knowledge, skills and techniques including their use of materials and musical instruments with creativity, experimentation, expression and increasing awareness and control.
Our curriculum at Hawthorns will give children various opportunities to explore Art, Music and Design Technology. These opportunities are embedded throughout the whole curriculum and form a large part of daily activities. As learning throughout school is cross curricular, links in other subjects will widen children’s opportunities to develop their Expressive Arts alongside skill specific sessions, where appropriate.
The children will take part in Arts based events throughout the schools year such as Art Exhibitions, Music workshops and Performing Arts opportunities. Throughout the year there are many celebratory, cultural and awareness days including, World Mental Health Day, Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Chinese New Year, Harvest, Remembrance Day, Children’s Art week, National Music Week etc. These will provide many practical Expressive Arts learning opportunities for our children which will develop their understanding of the world around them.
Impact
By the time the children leave Hawthorns School they will have:
- Enjoyed hands on Expressive Art experiences which will add to their understanding and learning through a range of curriculum areas.
- Developed their imagination and creativity through exploration of Expressive Art.
- Used the Arts to enhance their understanding of the world around them.
- Expressed themselves through the medium of Art and Music.
- Contributed to art exhibitions and displays
- Experienced a wide range of musical learning experiences.
- Taken part in a range of performances.
