At Wavendon Gate we are proud to have been awarded a prestigious national award for the arts. The Artsmark Gold award recognises the exceptional range and quality of our provision in all aspects of visual and performing arts. Pupils benefit from an enriched curriculum, a wide range of extra curricular activities and from our partnerships within the arts. The arts, together with sport, are important factors in providing all of our pupils the opportunity to broaden their horizons and to achieve at the highest level.
The Visual Arts
Art and display are given a high priority within our school, to provide a stimulating environment and creative curriculum within which every child’s strengths are valued. The visual arts make an important contribution to our achieving and maintaining the standards for the Artsmark Gold status. Staff are fully committed to the continuation of this success; we all seek to develop our own skills as well as the children’s, for example we all have our own sketch books!
The art curriculum is stimulating and varied. Teachers ensure that pupils are taught the essential skills and are given the opportunities to apply them through a range of media and contexts. The curriculum is enhanced by a variety of art clubs each term. For example this year pupils have already been able to select from clubs for clay, sketching, cartoon drawing and facepainting.
Throughout the school, display plays a vital role in recognising and celebrating children’s work across the curriculum. Each term the pupils vote for their favourite display with the winning year group receiving the Display Trophy.
Special events and competitions offer further opportunities. Our recent “Big Arts Week” involved all pupils studying the work of a contemporary artist. A number of professional artists came into school to work with staff and pupils. The week culminated in a legacy of finished pieces, reflecting the school’s identity and based on the children’s studies and preparative work. We are all very proud of the pupils successes in local and national competitions. For example Charlotte in Yr 4 recently spent an exciting day at Charlton Athletic football after winning a national competition to design a poster for the “Show Racism the Red Card”.
Ian Weatherburn; Subject Leader for Art and Display.
Music
Music plays an important part in the life of the school, both through curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities. Pupils and staff are encouraged to sing and play with their pupils. Pupils are able to receive specialist tuition from MK Music Service on a wide range of instruments. In addition all of year 3 are learning to play the recorder.
We have an enthusiastic and very active school choir. The choir perform at school and local events, such as Christmas Carols for the senior citizens group. They have even sung at a Barnardo’s Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London! There is also a school orchestra for our more advanced instrumentalists.
At our recent Spring Concert pupils from years 1-6 performed to families and friends. The evening was a huge success.
Claire McEwan; Subject Leader for Music.
Drama, Dance and Performance
At Wavendon Gate we have a definite taste for the theatrical! Our pupils enjoy participating in all aspects of the performing arts, in addition to the broad range of musical opportunities. Our dramatic presentations cover the whole spectrum; from the traditional Nativity play to full blown productions such as Midsummer Nights Dream and Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Productions enable the pupils to be involved in all aspects of the performance: acting, singing, orchestra, dancing, lighting and props.
We also use performance skills to “bring alive” the pupils learning. For example the use of performance poetry and dance in Yr 3’s study of Spring and the Yr 5 PowerPoint presentations for their assembly. The pupils’ learning also benefits from specialist teaching and extra-curricular provision in the expressive arts.
Jane Koszykowska, Subject Leader for English
Wavendon Gate offers a balanced sporting curriculum that caters for the needs of pupils of all sporting aptitudes and experience. We place a high priority on the provision of high quality teaching in Physical Education and an extensive programme of sport that extends significantly beyond the classroom. As subject leader for PE and manager for sports enrichment I oversee the curriculum and the quality of teaching and learning. Staff are supported by specialist sports Teaching Assistants and outside providers. There is a strong programme of staff training.
As a school we value sport and exercise on a variety of levels; as part of a healthy life style, for fun and social reasons and for the “elite” athlete.
We participate in a range of tournaments and competitions. We are proud of the achievements of our teams and individuals. The awards cabinet currently holds trophies for girl’s football, tag-rugby, athletics, rounders and badminton.
Rob Crilly – Subject leader for Physical Education and Sports Enrichment Manager. |