Statutory guidance – what we have to teach
Educational Programme : The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
Our children start their nursery experience very early on in their Expressive Arts and Design journey. Although this can vary between each individual cohort; our children, in generic terms, often hold very little familiarity of different forms of creative expression and have minimal artistic experiences.
Children are naturally curious and their motivation to explore is often promptly sparked with encouragement from trusted adults. Our children begin by exploring their own bodies in the space and exploring how they can move, make sounds, make marks and learn to recognise and use their body as a centre for expression. They often begin their explorative journey through a sensory approach, using their senses to discover and investigate what their bodies are capable of achieving.
As our children widen their exploration, they begin to develop their own interests and preferred forms of expression; it is our intent to then nurture the children’s artistic fascinations and channel their enthusiasm for expression into ongoing learning processes, eventually providing our children with a repertoire of artistic skills. Through an enabling environment flooded with artistic opportunity and a staff team who embrace creativity, we aim to evoke wonder and stimulate children’s imaginations igniting within them the self-belief to wish and aspire.
Our ethos implores us to embrace and glorify the process of learning, rather than focus on the end result. It is our strong belief that artistic achievements come in many forms and will always be celebrated and shared with pride; however we always aspire to ensure our children recognise that their individual creative process and learning experience is valued beyond one finished product. We aim to challenge uniformity and embrace individuality, instilling into our children’s mind-set that there is no ‘right or wrong’ when it comes to Expressive Arts and Design; learning is a process and a very exciting adventure!
We aim to nurture our children’s confidence in the Arts, providing them with a solid foundation and a positive outlook so that they can develop their creativity freely, knowing that there are endless paths and opportunities to be explored on their individual journey from here on out.
We have selected key areas to focus our curriculum around with consideration to what children will be taught when they make the next transition to Primary school. Our key areas are
- Music, movement and sound
- Manipulating materials through building and collage
- Artistic exploration through drawing, paint and sculpture
- Role play and drama
It is our hope that our children as individuals can utilise Expressive Arts and Design to embrace their uniqueness, encourage peaceful mind-sets and develop the confidence to continue to grow artistically and expressively.
