Budding artists get creative during Sheffield primary school arts week

Royd Nursery Infant School kicked off its annual arts week on November 4 in which all students went off timetable for the whole week and focused on the creative curriculum.

This year some of the students opted to look at environments with one class, for example, choosing to look at the sea and another looking at the dessert.

During the week they created an array of artwork using various items such as balloons and plastic bags to create jellyfish and stingray, in keeping with the underwater theme.

Deputy headteacher Sean Sly said: “There’s no reading, writing or maths during arts week – it is centred around the arts and that includes art, music, and dance. We really value the children’s input, obviously for them they’re passionate about their learning and want to be engaged and having their input will make sure they’re doing something that will make them happy.

“At Royd we are big believers that children being happy is the first step towards them being successful so the children pick their theme for the whole week."

The youngsters also created a series of musical and dance performances to fit with their themes.

Mr Sly added: “We’re not strict in terms of what children do, they know the curriculum and the skill set they have. They’ve been painting, sketching, doing collages and other things they've done include 3D modelling including clay work.

“We also have a really strong Continuous Professional Development (CPD) model so for example, the art lead has access to a range of training and we had an arts staff meeting before half term where we had a carousel of workshops which included sketching, painting and clay work. They can be used to further the students knowledge and help them understand what quality art looks like.”

The school, which is situated in Deepcar, holds an Artsmark which recognises schools which are making the arts come alive.

In previous years children in Key Stage 1 have studied topics including continents and countries during arts week, focusing on places such as Antarctica and Africa.

Meanwhile, Nursery and Reception have looked at things like ‘celebration of colour linked to a book’, exploring books such as the children’s classic Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and looking at festivals such as Diwali, the Hindu festival of light.