Hilltoppers Nursery Astrea Academy Trust
Expressive Arts Policy.
Why we teach Expressive Arts?
Nursery Curriculum Overarching Principles.
Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time.
Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
Across all areas of the curriculum 3 characteristics of effective learning are key.
Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.
Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements.
Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
What is the Expressive Arts in the Foundation Stage?
“Creativity is fundamental to successful learning. Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another”
Curriculum Guidance for the foundation stage. QCA 2000
The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
How we teach this in the Nursery
Understanding the world in the EYFS covers 2 key areas: Being Imaginative and Creating with Materials.
We provide creative and well-resourced learning environments and opportunities which support and support the development of the expressive arts.
We plan regular opportunities and experiences for our children to explore the arts in our outside areas. Children explore and investigate a wide variety of materials and stimuli.
We plan for opportunities for children to develop an enthusiasm and enjoyment for music in all its forms, to develop their musical expression, both indoors and outdoors, through a wide range of activities that are constantly available to them to encourage individual exploration and nurture self-confidence.
We provide children with lots of opportunities to independently engage in role play and imaginative play.
Continuous provision: which is our planned learning environment both inside and outside.
We have thoughtfully planned areas which are organised to spark learning opportunities and children’s interests, provoking children to make choices as they play alone or with others. Children can select and replace resources as they need them. They know that these resources and materials will always be available.
Our areas are:
The Creative Station: stations where children explore paint, malleable materials and learn to join and construct with different materials.
Investigation: stations where children explore properties of sand, water, the natural world, light, magnets and a host of other scientific resources.
Let’s Imagine: where children develop imaginative skills in the home corner, with small world and constructional resources. Children can explore music and instruments. This area also includes a cosy reading area and writing den.
Outdoors: a large, well-resourced area where children can move, build and investigate on a larger scale. It includes a large sandpit, a water wall, a mud kitchen and large construction.
We are working on developing a Forest Schools approach to our outdoor areas. This is a longer-term project which we believe will enhance children’s enjoyment, confidence and physical skills. Forest School is an approach to education that seeks to shape teaching to an individual’s learning style. It is not only focused on the acquisition of knowledge but shows that if learning is enjoyable and fulfilling a person grows and gains self-esteem through experiencing the process.
Effective Teaching involves:
Working in partnership with parents, because parents continue to have a prime teaching role with their children.
As with all other Areas of Learning, the teaching and learning of the Expressive Arts in our Nursery takes place both indoors and outdoors through a wide range of practical and “hands on” activities.
Being involved with practitioners in planned, practical activities or through child-initiated activities, supported by a stimulating and well-resourced environment.
Using all their senses as appropriate, reflecting on and sharing their discoveries with others, speculating on future findings, and by practicing using new skills. Children are given the chance to revisit and consolidate learning through Continuous and Enhanced provision of resources.
Adults recognising and responding to children’s interests and fascinations through “Responsive Planning”. Staff make planned and casual observations of children and note any particular interests. Resources, space and time can then be offered to support these individual fascinations, thereby facilitating learning.
Having access to a variety of tools, equipment and resources which they are shown how to use safely and appropriately.
Planning for the Expressive Arts.
Planning for EA is devised in line with the EYFS Statutory Framework, with reference to Development Matters and from observation and assessment of children’s needs.
It includes;
The Nursery’s annual programme of 6 termly themes which demonstrates how areas of the EYFS framework are broken down and woven through other areas.
Continuous Provision Planning.
Termly planning.
Weekly planning – seen on our assessment board and weekly planning board. These build upon children’s interests and next steps.
Support for each child.
We believe every child can succeed. Provision will be made to meet the individual requirements of children with any additional needs, to enable them to make progress in their development and achieve their full potential, e.g., through specific targets as part of an Individual Support Plan.
Staff will liaise and work closely with parents and other professionals involved with the child and respond to the advice they offer. Where necessary, resources and equipment to support children with additional needs will be procured from other agencies.
Observation, Assessment, Monitoring and Record-Keeping
Children’s skills and stages of development are observed and monitored by keyworkers. Observations may be long or short and supported by evidence such as annotated photographs or pieces of work when possible.
Observations and records inform planning, identify next steps for each child, may identify a learning difficulty or talent, and provide the nursery with the means to monitor cohort progress and collect data on the effectiveness of the provision.
Records of individual children’s progress and achievement will be shared via our new Famly app.
When a child is aged between two and three, practitioners will review their progress, and provide parents and/or carers with a short-written summary of their child’s development in the prime areas.