Performing Arts
Our Specialist Drama Teacher, Becky, and our Specialist Music Teacher, Mrs Shakspeare, are both extremely passionate about giving our children the opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills and technical acting ability.
All children across the school, work with our specialist teachers to develop their acting and singing skills which builds towards an end of year performance in Key Stage 2.
Every year group has a ‘Play In a Day’ session with Becky each term.
‘Play In a Day’ is a practical, workshop approach to drama where, in Key Stage 1, the children play games to create the perfect picture, develop confidence and learn strategies for effective communication. In Key Stage 2, pupils build on this to convey themes and characters within a play.
The children thoroughly enjoy their drama day, gaining confidence through remembering their lines and performing their play to the school. These creative days provide real opportunities for all children to build confidence, have their voice heard, work together independently and as a group and share their talents.
The plays that the children take part in are cross-curricular and cover a range of topics including: PSHE, History, Geography and English. This gives children the opportunity to draw on their current learning within the classroom and build on this, helping the transfer of learning from short term to long term memory.
Every July, the children of Peckforton and Cholmondeley class create a performance which is based on a William Shakespeare play or another popular story. This means that every child leaves for high school with a depth of knowledge of at least one Shakespeare play.
Over recent years, our plays have grown into much bigger productions, combining music, drama and computing.
Technology is used to incorporate green screen within our productions which enhances the experience for the audience. The children love using the green screen and watching themselves on screen is most definitely a ‘wow’ moment.
From Nursery, all children receive at least one music lesson each week and in upper Key Stage 2, children have an additional choir lesson. All sessions are conducted by our Specialist Music Teacher, Mrs Shakspeare. These high-quality sessions are thoroughly enjoyed by our children and celebrate our highly creative culture and enhance our children’s vocabulary. The lessons sometimes link to Research Themes, giving children another opportunity to transfer knowledge to their long-term memory.
Children learn to use a range of instruments which are incorporated into performances and develop their understanding of rhythm. In year 6, our children have the opportunity to learn how to play the violin and the guitar with Mrs Shakspeare. They enjoy performing to a range of audiences and are highly praised for their musical ability.
Each year, the choir performs to a range of audiences, including: churches for Christmas Carol services; community centres for the elderly and Vision Support and coffee mornings for school.
Our children also perform as part of the ‘Young Voices Concert’ at Manchester Arena, which is an incredible opportunity for them to not only be part of one of the largest children’s choirs in the world, but to also sing alongside top music artists and enjoy live performances.
Years 2 and 3 also have the opportunity to take part in the Infant Music Festival and Children of Halton Sing.
Every class takes part in a ‘Lyrical Recital’ performance. This is a poetic performance that celebrates the impact of music and lyrics.
Please see the link below to see one of the latest achievements of our school choir, Primary Choral Festival 2020
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