Creating art expands a child’s ability to interact with the world around them, and provides a new set of skills for self-expression and communication. Not only does art help to develop the right side of the brain, it also cultivates important skills that benefit a child’s development.

At Calverton, our ethos is that every child is an inborn artist, until they are told they are not. Mr. Noyes believed, in every individual the gem of art appreciation exists.Therefore all children are artists: their imaginative play is of the self – same type as the artist’s dream. In the right environment this inborn gift will never die.

Through Art and Creative Performances, children learn various life skills:

Communication skills: when a child draws a picture, paints a portrait, or hangs buttons from a wobbly mobile, that child is beginning to communicate visually.

Social and emotional skills: practice sharing and taking turns, fosters positive mental health by allowing a child to show individual uniqueness as well as success and accomplishment, all part of a positive self-concept.

Problem solving skills: when children explore art ideas, they are testing possibilities and working through challenges, much like a scientist who experiments and finds solutions.

Fine motor skills: enable a child to do things like delicately turn the page of a book or fill in a sheet of paper with written words, holding a paintbrush so that it will make the desired marks, snipping paper with scissors into definite shapes, drawing with a crayon, or squeezing glue from a bottle in a controlled manner all help develop a child’s fine motor skills and control of materials.

Finally, self expression and creativity: children express themselves through art on a fundamental level. Sometimes their artwork is the manifestation of that expression, but more often, the physical process of creating is the expression. Art is an experience that requires freethinking, experimentation, and analysis — all part of creativity.

At Calverton we believe that the arts are a fundamental part of the curriculum and define the arts as:

Visual arts: drawing , painting, ceramics, photography, sculpture;

Literary arts: poetry, creative writing. We believe that the arts offer opportunities for the children to explore, express and communicate their feelings whilst gaining experiences of the wider world. Through experiencing the arts, children develop their creativity, self esteem and confidence. The arts represent an outlet of expression, that is usually influenced by culture and which in turn helps to change culture. As such, the arts are a physical manifestation of the internal creative impulse.

Calverton provides a school environment that is safe and stimulating for the children in our care. We aim to promote the highest possible levels of achievement for all members of the school community, valuing all learners equally and developing within them an enthusiasm for learning and a desire for personal excellence.

As much as we give importance to the visual arts at Calverton, we give equal importance to the literary arts and performing arts, in order to support our children to become creative, imaginative and critical thinkers. Creative arts have become an active part of our daily learning, through incorporating it in our everyday teaching. This is through activities such as role play, dance, planned hooks, planning open-ended tasks (including options for response) and trying limited choice.