Arts in the Primary School

The creativity of children is amazing! As adults, we often put things into constrained categories: This is dance, this is drama, this is music, this is visual art. For children, however, the Arts are a pathway for learning, an expression of their knowledge and feelings, a place for worship, a place to be themselves.

In Years 1 and 2, the Arts are fully integrated into the teaching and learning programmes. Students utilise drama to help retell stories, which link to their reading and writing. When studying early New Zealand history, children dressed up, learnt songs, created wakas and studied traditional Maori dress by creating paper dolls. Teachers utilise music and singing across the curriculum to learn new concepts and to grow children in their faith and knowledge of God. The Year 2 students linked their knowledge of the significance of the Korowai cloak for Maori to the story of Joseph and his multi-coloured cloak.

In Years 3 and 4, the Arts are both integrated and taught in allocated times. While studying New Zealand native birds, students created art works to reflect the chosen bird of their class space. Young Peacemakers is a Christian programme that equips young people to deal with challenging relationships and conflict in healthy, constructive and life-changing ways. Drama has been key to help students practice these skills and to build their knowledge of conflict resolution. Some people are afraid of the recorder, but not these young learners! They have loved learning how to read simple music and make a beautiful noise unto the Lord!

While Arts learning In Year 5 and 6 remains integrated into all subjects, there are also the specialised art subject experiences and learning that takes place. In Visual Art, students study different styles of art, look at famous artists and the visual techniques of that genre, and then create their own pieces. When studying Dance, students learn the language of dance, explore different genres, and undertake their own choreography. In Music, students build on their knowledge of rhythm, how sound can be layered, and how musical ideas can be represented in different ways.

For many children, the ‘Arts’ is their happy place. A place where they can be just how God planned them to be. We serve a wonderful, creative, creator God, and our desire is to teach the students to see the Arts as an expression of their faith in Him.

De Gibson
Assistant Head of Primary School