Learning in, through and about the Expressive Arts helps children and young people recognise and appreciate their own and others’ creative and artistic abilities. The expressive arts foster imagination and creativity, and provide opportunities for children and young people to develop a wide range of technical, presentational and performance skills, to think creatively and be proactive and enterprising within meaningful and relevant contexts.
https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/learning-in-scotland/curriculum-areas/expressive-arts/
As part of a rich and diverse curriculum, our children will experience regular class activities in these areas. They will also be able to take part in a breadth of other whole school activities including: class assemblies; our school choir which performs at a range of events including in the local community; music lessons, ensembles and performances including at church services; seasonal/ context led performances like our nursery classes’ and P1-3’s Nativity performances; our cluster P7 ceilidhs; and our bi-annual P4-7 school shows. Our school takes great pride in these performances which have been performed over two evenings at Eastwood Theatre. Trailers for our last two shows will give you a flavour of how wonderful they were! We hope to have another school show during session 2023-24
Art and Design
Through Art and Design, children are encouraged to express themselves visually and to appreciate and enjoy their own and the work of other artists. Their imaginations are stimulated through various mediums, e.g. music, poetry, the work of famous artists, etc. All children are encouraged to develop their creative talents through participating in activities that include the use of different materials, e.g. paint, and collage work, plasticine and clay.
Music
Like Art, Music is to be enjoyed and children are encouraged to listen and respond, to create and design, to sing and to use instruments. Music making using a range of tuned and untuned instruments is a regular part of class work. Activities to encourage this may include listening and responding to music, making and inventing their own music by using instruments which are available in the school, and singing modern and traditional songs. A teacher from East Renfrewshire Council visits the school on a weekly basis to teach children musical skills. In addition, musical specialists visit the school and offer tuition in violin and guitar.
We are delighted to have expanded the musical opportunities for our children, in particular with the expansion of our school choir, over the last five years. Around 60 of our P5-7 children performed in ‘ The Big Sing’ December 2019 event at Orchardhill Parish Church. We have also previously entered the Glasgow Music Festivaland a Glee event in Motherwell during Spring 2020. A number of our P4-7 children continue to sing with the RNSO choir following our P3 class activities and auditions with them over the last three sessions. Following the challenges of the Covid years, we look forward to further developing these experiences again.
East Renfrewshire Council Music Service has published information about their work at primary level. Click on the link below to see the document.
Music Overview – Parental Overview
Drama
Children from their earliest years use imaginative play to explore, order and make sense of themselves and the world about them. Drama extends and builds on this natural process and helps to build confidence and self-esteem. To help develop a range of dramatic techniques and skills, children have the opportunity to role play, improvise, use movement and mime and use sound to express their own and others’ ideas. The opportunity to develop these skills often arises through other curricular areas and in Giffnock these may often be linked to topic and language work.
Dance
Dance is also an important aspect of the Expressive Arts curriculum. Various aspects and forms of dance will be learned through class lessons alongside other opportunities for participation and performance, including social dancing and ceilidhs as well as assemblies and shows.
