Motivating boys through music and dance

About the school

This junior school has 345 pupils on roll. Almost all of the pupils are white and none speak English as an additional language. There are 57 pupils on the school's special educational needs register and 6% are eligible for free school meals.

Last year's national curriculum test results at key stage 2 were well above the national average in reading, with 92% of pupils achieving level 4 and above. The results for writing and mathematics were 64% and 76% respectively.

Arts in the school

The school is committed to providing a broad, high-quality curriculum with opportunities for full access and achievement for all pupils. The arts are a central part of its life and ethos, and the school has achieved Artsmark Gold. It has also been awarded Activemark Gold for its commitment to PE.

The key aims of the school's arts policy are:

• To continue to raise the profile of, and invaluable contribution made by, the arts to the child's social, aesthetic and spiritual development.
• To stimulate and/or maintain pupil curiosity, interest and enjoyment in the arts.
• To enable pupils to be familiar with a body of knowledge, skills, principles and terminology.
• To provide pupils with a variety of opportunities to produce their own works of art and to enable them to make informed judgements about their own and others' work through observation, analysis and evaluation.
• To employ teaching methods and resources that allow all pupils to have equal access to the arts and to experience enjoyment and success in their work.
• To develop pupils' self-esteem and to help them understand and value the contributions of others, whatever their level of ability.
• To develop an awareness in pupils of the implications of the arts (past and present) for the individual, and the local, national and international communities.
• To develop an awareness in pupils of the significance of the arts and their value as an important, pleasurable and fundamental realm of human experience.
• To develop an awareness in pupils of their own arts culture and that of others.

In curriculum time, the school uses the QCA/DfES schemes of work as the basis for its work in the arts. Music has a regular weekly slot for all pupils. Painting is timetabled as a separate subject for skills development, as well as integrated within topics. Dance is timetabled for two half terms a year for all pupils.

This provision is supplemented by a whole variety of experiences for the pupils, including:

• an annual arts week;
• regular concerts by visiting groups;
• dance workshops;
• dance and music clubs;
• a very large choir;
• an orchestra;
• regular whole school performances, as well as smaller productions;
• school choirs singing at venues such as the Albert Hall and the Barbican;
• visiting theatre groups