| At St Aldhelm’s Academy we believe that Performing Arts has a main purpose – to encourage creativity, inspire equality and enhance collaboration through shared ideas and self-expression.
It is our vision within the performing arts department that every pupil has the opportunity to encounter creative experiences through all three expressive art forms.
The Performing Arts hold the means of transporting pupils from the immediate within school life. There is an opportunity for every pupil within our school to find space within their busy school life to create, compose and find their voice through the precious art forms of music, dance and drama.
Our school offers many opportunities for our pupils to experience the performing arts outside of the school day also. We are a partner school with the Lighthouse theatre, allowing us to attend a wide range of concerts, dance shows, musicals and theatre productions. All our performing arts pupils are exposed to these wonderful experiences! We have a close relationship with the Arts University of Bournemouth, as well as being a partner school with Soundstorm, the National Theatre and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
We regularly invite performers of all Performing Arts strands to our school, meeting practitioners who are experts in their chosen field. This allows our pupils to develop an understanding of a working life within the arts, as well as growing their understanding and their own talent in their chosen art form.
We are proud of what we offer our pupils here at St Aldhelm’s, and watching pupils’ love, appreciation and talent flourish in the Performing Arts is something so precious that we treasure and work hard to promote.
Music at St Aldhelms 
At St Aldhelm’s we fully recognise that Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity.
It is a high priority within the Performing Arts department to deliver a high-quality music education to all pupils, that it should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
As pupils within our school progress, they develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
It is imperative that all pupils within KS 3 have an opportunity to perform, listen to, review and evaluate a wide range of musical styles, traditions and genres.
Pupils learn to sing and use their voices, create and compose music as an individual and within a group setting. Pupils will learn a range of instruments within their allotted lessons times as well as have the opportunity to learn an instrument with a peripatetic instrumental teacher in addition to the lessons.
They will experience the use of musical technology and explore different methods of how music is created, produced, communicated and composed.
All pupils will grasp a deeper understanding of key musical terms, such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure.
All Music lessons within KS3 are purely practical lessons. We recognise that a large selection of our pupils may not have been exposed to a great amount of music before they arrive at the academy, therefore we make sure that all pupils access the practical element of this subject, not only engaging them fully in the lessons, giving a taste of what the making of music and being part of an ensemble feels like!
We believe it is imperative that pupils understand the true meaning of performance – deepening an awareness of life as a musician, trusting in team work and experiencing the rush of producing something wonderful for others to appreciate. These practical lessons also allow us as practitioners to recognise pupils who thrive in music – displaying a strong sense of rhythm, pitch or vocal range, a love and passion for this subject, and an ease when performing. As pupils move and progress within this art from, our music students have the opportunity to take a GCSE in music. Be sure, if your child is talented in music – they will be spotted and encouraged to take this subject as a GCSE in year 10.
Drama at St Aldhelm’s
At St Aldhelm’s, we believe that learning through drama is a natural human practice. We recognise it as a powerful pedagogy and a creative process that provides a compelling means of exploration, expression and making meaning. It is our vision that through drama, the lessons we teach, the clubs we provide in and outside of the school day will explore what it is to be human. Developing an awareness, empathy, respect and mutual collaboration with others is a vital and key element of the performing arts department and the wider ethos of the Academy.
We offer our pupils a range of drama skills that will promote students’ ability to engage critically and creatively to a variety of stimulus and theatre texts. As pupils progress in their drama skills, they either take a BTEC in performing arts or GCSE in drama skills.
Pupils will have the opportunity to examine and work with professional practitioners’ performance work, as well as explore the interrelationships between constituent features of existing performance material.
Our drama students regularly attend out of school hours performances to see professional drama in action!
We have a professional stage at hand within our school which includes high quality lighting and sound to enhance all performances here at St Aldhelm’s Academy, creating the perfect environment for any budding performer to grow in confidence and performing skills.
Dance at St Aldhelms Academy
At St Aldhelm’s, we believe that learning through dance is a great way for students to learn kinetically and allow them to express themselves in a creative way. We recognise it as a powerful pedagogy and a creative process that provides a compelling means of exploration, expression and making meaning. It is our vision that through dance, the lessons we teach, the clubs we provide in and outside of the school day will explore what it is to be human. Developing an awareness, empathy, respect and mutual collaboration with others is a vital and key element of the performing arts department and the wider ethos of the Academy. Pupils within KS3 all have the opportunity to grow in their dance skills and learn a range of styles, from classical all the way to street dance! We have been known to create the odd Tik Tok also!
Should pupils wish to pursue dance at a greater level, we offer our pupils at St Aldhelms the opportunity to take a BTEC qualification in Performing arts ( dance pathway).
Our school is equipped with a purpose built dance studio, which is used for every dance lesson, with fully fitted floor to ceiling mirrors to allow all dancers to study their technique and learn choreographed routines quickly, as well as a full set of stage lights to enhance all performances within our studio space.
Our dancers regularly perform in the main theatre also in preparation for regular shows or musicals.
|
