Due to the success of our previous Autumn project, Leeds City Art Gallery and Leeds Music Education Partnership (LMEP) have teamed up once again to bring you an immersive Arts project which all schools can register a class for during the summer term. This FREE Art and Music project is aimed at KS2 and KS3 children and will take place in Leeds Art Gallery on selected dates in the summer term.

Project outline:

• This project will link Art activities with music composition and improvisation through a common theme.
• Leeds Art Gallery will host an online gallery visit for each visiting school, and introduce the themes of the visit and provide interactive activities prior to the session at the Gallery.
• A morning or afternoon visit for a designated class to the Art gallery either on Friday 28th June or Friday 12th July, which will include an opportunity to make music and art in the gallery space, and gives the chance for children to explore the latest Art exhibition at the gallery.

The project is fully funded by Leeds Art gallery and LMEP, and you will be able to get support with transport costs to the Art Gallery via LMEP’s innovative grant. Two-form entry schools are welcome to take part. To register your interest, please email LMEP.ArtForms@leeds.gov.uk and state your preferred date.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Truscott at LMEP.ArtForms@leeds.gov.uk or Amanda

Philips Amanda.Philips@leeds.gov.uk.

Sarah Truscott – Assistant Head, ArtForms (LMEP)

Thursday 14th October 2021

14:00 – 16:00

Join us from wherever you are on this virtual training session!

This  session is designed to give an overview of the key aspects of leading Art, Craft and Design in a primary school context.  With reference to the Art, Craft and Design Programme of Study and the Ofsted Framework, delegates will consider planning, progression and assessment in Art.   Although the training will be delivered through Teams, the session will be hands on and there will be a number of practical tasks.   These are designed for non- Art specialists and will support the development of delegate’s skills, knowledge and confidence in Art.   Examples of good practice will be shared and there will be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion.

Delegate places can be booked through Leeds for Learning.  Please click here for the Leeds for Learning website.

If you have any questions about this training please email Jane Zanzottera at jane.zanzottera@leeds.gov.uk

ArtForms Arts Development work with primary schools to support them to develop their arts curriculum.  This can include:

• Arts – strategic visioning and action planning
• Art and D&T subject leader support and development
• Art and D&T curriculum development
• Whole staff training and teacher CPD (Knowledge and Skills

We will work alongside you to help you address your needs and priorities.  If you would like to discuss how we can help, please email jane.zanzottera@leeds.gov.uk or visit the Leeds for Learning website.

• social outcomes;
• youth development;
• the prevention of physical and mental illnesses.

Click here to read the Evidence Study for policy: The role of arts in improving health and wellbeing

Thursday 15th October 2020

14:00 – 16:00

Join us from wherever you are on this virtual training session!

This virtual session is designed to give an overview of the key aspects of leading Art, Craft and Design in a primary school context.  With reference to the Art, Craft and Design Programme of Study and the Ofsted Framework, delegates will consider planning, progression and assessment in Art.   Although the training will be delivered through Zoom, the session will be hands on and there will be a number of practical tasks.   These are designed for non- Art specialists and will support the development of delegate’s skills, knowledge and confidence in Art.   Examples of good practice will be shared and there will be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion.

Delegate places can be booked through Leeds for Learning.  Please click here for the Leeds for Learning website.

If you have any questions about this training please email Jane Zanzottera at jane.zanzottera@leeds.gov.uk

But not so! Surely we need only follow the National Curriculum for music, the new model curriculum, a school’s own curriculum, the National Plan for Music, Ofsted guidance and our own scheme of work. We should remember to always start with a warm up and end with a plenary. And not forget to include all the latest methodology from whatever is currently catching the world’s attention. And not forget to get the pupils entered into all the exams going, and end up with top grades throughout.  Fill up the children’s stock of knowledge. Short, medium and long term planning, ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum in an inclusive classroom. We just need to tick all these boxes – what room (or need) is there for ‘art’?

Or should we become freeform ‘enablers’ of children’s musical happenings? Technique, notation, traditions – these all get in the way of the wonderful capacity for self-expression lurking in the mind of every child. All we need do is to unleash the inner genius. No amount of methodical preparation will enable this to happen: we need to respond freely to the creative urges of a child’s spirit: this is all about intuition and empathy, and is most definitely ‘art’.

Or is it all about charisma? Should we be motivating our pupils by our wit and repartee, and by our dazzling skills as a musical virtuoso? Is our classroom manner as ebullient as a circus ringmaster? Every lesson a performance? Is turning our timetable into a series of theatrical events what we mean by ‘art’?

I’ll come clean and reveal that I am not currently a teacher. At least, it doesn’t say I’m a teacher on my job description. And I haven’t been a practising teacher for a long time. Yet I am, in my soul, a teacher. If you cut me in half it would say ‘teacher’ through me, like it says ‘Blackpool’ through a stick of rock. I’ve met and worked with some extraordinarily good teachers over the years. A privilege. I’ve met plenty of perfectly decent ones. And some who might be described as ‘working towards…’. All different. All with a range of skills. Some full of the enthusiasm of youth, and some filled with the wisdom of experience. Hardly ever have I met one who doesn’t care deeply about teaching as an occupation, or about their pupils as individuals. In music education, at least, nobody comes to work to deliberately do a bad job.

What do all music teachers, tutors and instructors have in common? Not background, age, life experiences – no. None of these. What they have is that they are all human beings. They share a common humanity with each other, and with their pupils. They bring many, many different skills and experiences with them into the classroom (or rehearsal space, band room, or practice room). Then comes the hard part: they have to choose what and how to teach.

OK – there are fixed point in our educational worlds. External examinations, imposed curricula, the demands of meeting Ofsted criteria etc. Navigating a route through these fixed points is the choice of the teacher. How do we prioritise? How do we cut up our content into manageable chunks? What’s our ‘style’ – are we one of those teachers who never smiles before Christmas?

We have a huge palette of resources available to us. External resources: instruments, software etc. And internal resources: knowledge, experience, judgment and skills. How do we manipulate this material? How do we play with the ideas that we have, to work most effectively and to have the greatest impact on the mind and spirit of every pupil? What creative choices are we making in presenting learning to pupils?

Music lessons are musical events (or should be). If we are really making music in our lessons, then how are we interacting through music (rather than talking about music)?

To be done well, all art requires techniques, skills and knowledge. How to play an instrument, construct a haiku, control perspective in a painting – all of these require careful thought, learning, preparation and practice. As does teaching: there are techniques which a teacher really can’t do without. It isn’t possible to play music to a high level without mastery of technique, and it isn’t possible to teach to the highest level without mastery of classroom skills, knowledge of subject and curriculum, and thorough preparation. These are all essential. They enable teaching to take flight. And if teaching is exciting, inspiring and wonderful, so will be the learning.

A definition to finish with: this is from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.

‘Art: something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings’

If I come across a music lesson that fits these criteria, that would be a pretty good lesson.

Stephen Wild
May 2019

Thursday 11th July 2019, 1pm – 4pm

Leeds Industrial Museum, Armley Mills

Join forest schools practitioner,Annie Berrington, for this practical course exploring how the natural environment can be used as a resource for creating art.  Delegates will:

• learn some simple techniques to explore the art and science of colour in nature including the Japanese art of hapa zome
• make dyes from natural and household materials
• transfer colour from nature to make banners and flags

For booking and further information, please visit Leeds for Learning.

22nd January 2019, 1pm – 4pm

Armley Mills Industrial Museum

Talking about art can be daunting and adults often have a fear of getting it wrong.  However, using art can be a fantastic way of getting pupils to talk.  It provides pupils with something to talk about and can develop the range and quality of their vocabulary, whilst building their general knowledge.

The Art, Craft and Design Programme of Study requires pupils to be able to  “evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art…” This training session will explore strategies and techniques to enable teachers to feel confident about addressing this area of the curriculum.

For further information and to book your place, please visit Leeds for Learning.