The arts curriculum at independent schools such as St Mary?s provides space, time, freedom and the motivation to help students achieve wide ranging academic, social and personal aims, says Carole Ryder.
Small classes, highly motivated students and supportive parents enable teachers working in the arts to create a stimulating and creative environment for their students.
Although not required to do so, St Mary?s works mainly within the national curriculum, but has the flexibility to devise more interesting and varied programmes which reach across the whole curriculum. The school?s Religious Education department, for example, holds ?days of reflection? when a whole year group dispenses with the normal timetable for a day to explore their own spirituality through music, song, drama, meditation and worship.
Small class sizes make possible the individual coaching which is so essential to develop musicianship. A teacher can give time to a student struggling to understand the atonality of Benjamin Britten?s ?War Requiem?, and in drama, students can work closely in small groups on scripted pieces or improvisation. The art department enjoy the calm creative atmosphere that aids artistic work in sculpture and 2D work, because they are working with groups of 12 to 14 girls. There are no large noisy groups struggling to compete for limited resources. Girls are able to use excellent materials in ceramics and high quality paints in art. Ceramics also gives the girls the opportunity to do more 3D work than is generally available in the national curriculum; and for textiles, all girls have access to computerised sewing machines. Tuition is available in a wide variety of musical instruments and visiting Speech & Drama teachers offer LAMDA tuition as an extra option.
An extensive programme of visits and activities enriches day to day classroom teaching and provides a varied programme of extra curricular activities. The drama department, like many other departments in the school, has an active policy of working with professional artists in both workshops and school productions; a flamenco band and flamenco teachers for a production of Lorca?s ?Blood Wedding?; rock musicians for a production of the American musical ?Fame?. Textiles students visit exhibitions by Vivienne Westwood and leading textile artists and designers at ?Quilt 2000?. Workshops run by visiting directors from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Trestle Theatre Company give valuable stimulation to GCSE and A Level drama students.
Art history trips abroad have included Paris and Florence, and international visitors to the school have included a choir from a sister school in Australia. The school?s location in Cambridge also gives students access to the rich cultural life of the city with visits to the Arts Theatre and the Fitzwilliam Museum. Girls can also work at the cutting edge of Arts and Science by using video technology at The Junction?s video editing suite and collaborating with a digital artist such as Katherine Watling, artist in residence at the Cavendish Laboratories.
In an academic school such as St Mary?s, it would be easy for the arts to become marginalised in the race for GCSEs and A Levels. But in fact, the academic nature of the school actually broadens horizons. For example, a Sixth Form student can study the combination of Italian, history of art, textiles and maths, thus preparing her perfectly for a career in the fashion business in Milan.
Carole Ryder is Marketing Manager at St Mary?s School, a Catholic independent day and boarding school in Cambridge t: 01223 353253 f: 01223 357451 e: headmistress@stmarys.cambs.sch.uk