Creative Arts - Dulwich Prep & Senior Skip to footer Learning Pedagogy Academic Curriculum Creative Arts Sport Co-Curriculum Skills & Strategies Creative Arts Art The extensive Art curriculum allows children to express themselves in our well-equipped art studios inclusively and creatively using a range of media to explore drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, 3D work and other visual art disciplines. After-school art clubs and workshop events are offered, allowing pupils to develop their own personal projects or continue with extension exercises related to class projects. We also offer specialist focus to our most talented artists, who frequently receive scholarships and awards when heading to their senior schools. Celebrating the work created in lessons is also important to us, where an Artist of the Week is presented to children across all sections of the school. Further art endeavours are celebrated in the Head Master’s Art Competition that runs annually and produces some outstanding work responding to themes relating to our school values. Visiting artists also inspire, allowing creative minds to flourish and with the opportunity to exhibit at the Head Master’s House as part of our partnership with the Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House. The efforts and excellence of pupils’ work are also honoured and exhibited around the school, with official exhibitions held in our gallery area adjacent to the school Concert Hall or the Art Studio itself. Music We offer a broad and wide-ranging Music curriculum. There is something for everyone, from singing pop songs and hymns in class assemblies to participating in one of the 32 different music groups, choirs, and ensembles. Over 80% of pupils from Year 2 upwards play at least one instrument, with a large proportion taking on two. Instruction in Music Theory is also available. More than 30 visiting instrumental teachers deliver over 550 individual instrumental and theory lessons, which take place weekly in the purpose-built Music School, which includes a 300-seat Concert Hall, 12 teaching and practice rooms, and a music classroom furnished with iMacs for the teaching of music technology. Pupils can participate in our Pupil Concerts four or five times a term, and each section of the school produces its own concert twice a year. The highlights of the musical calendar are our Christmas Service and Spring Gala events, which take place at prestigious external venues. Our pupils have an outstanding record of being awarded exhibitions and music scholarships to senior schools. Drama Drama equips the pupils with valuable skills in empathy, communication and self-esteem through a lens of dramatic, social and historical contexts that challenge and inspire. Drama is taught from Year 1 onwards, focusing on kinaesthetic learning experiences through which pupils can engage in collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking and enrichment of self-expression and imagination. Pupils start with the foundational skills of Drama through structured play. Exploring spatial awareness, role play, and creating character through storytelling, language and listening skills forms the basis for pupils to flourish in various performance opportunities. Upon reaching Lower and Middle School, pupils will extend their capabilities by focusing on ensemble and stagecraft, creating dramatic meaning, and evaluating dramatic action by studying specific theatrical styles. This culminates in Year 8 with a two-week-long intensive drama workshop in which the pupils create a live performance with a theatre professional. We involve as many pupils as possible when casting plays (including chorus, a backstage crew, set designers, ushers and even pupils who assist in photographing/recording the rehearsals and final show); this enables all pupils to learn different skills and for everyone to have the opportunity to shine. Design Technology Our pupils start by experimenting with structures, textiles and mechanisms with their class teachers and then come into the well-equipped workshop from Year 4, where they learn to use hand and machine tools with care. In Years 4 & 5, we focus on hands-on making, and from Year 6 onwards, we follow an iterative design process. The pupils also use 2D and 3D design and manufacturing computer programs along with laser cutters and 3D printers. We want our pupils to be environmentally aware and consider how they can use design to help tackle real-world problems sustainably. We participate in a range of external activities, such as the Victoria & Albert Museum Innovate Challenge. They learn to work in teams, share and discuss ideas and develop beneficial skills in critical thinking, creativity and collaboration, which will also help them in other subjects and beyond. Food & Nutrition From Year 1 onwards, we offer pupils the opportunity to gain cookery experience through timetabled lessons, break time sessions or after-school clubs. We recognise that involving children in food preparation from an early age has many benefits. Whether learning the fundamentals of cooking, broadening a child’s worldview through the food of different cultures, demonstrating the tangible benefits of reading by being able to understand and follow a recipe, or seeing food as more than just the finished product, it underpins the development of key life skills, nutritional awareness and healthy living.