Creative Arts & Humanities
Seven subjects. Boundless opportunity.
Art, Music, Design & Technology, Spanish, PE, PSHE and RE — the subjects that develop creativity, culture, confidence and character in every child at Pallister Park.
These subjects are not extras — they are at the heart of a complete education. They build the whole child: expressive, physically active, culturally aware, emotionally resilient, and ready for life.
Art & Design
Creativity, expression, and seeing the world differently
We teach art in school because it is the ideal way to enable children to reach their creative potential. Here at Pallister Park a balanced and rich curriculum is offered — one that encourages expression and visual thinking, which in turn helps children learn across other subjects too.
By keeping our understanding of all discipline areas — drawing, painting, sculpture and printing — as open as possible, we ensure that art remains inclusive and accessible to every pupil. Children study an assortment of artists from the local area and worldwide, including influential members of the LGBTQ+ community, and use their techniques to create masterpieces of their own. Once completed, they are able to talk about and review their work positively, and consider what they might do differently next time.
Pupils are provided with opportunities to build skills through lessons linked to year group topics, so that repeated practice is continued and built upon. Through enabling pupils to think about the purpose of art and artists in all our lives, we ensure that as children grow, they feel entitled to express and better understand themselves in the world around them.
“The ‘earth’ without ‘art’ is just ‘eh!'”
Design & Technology
Practical skills, creative thinking, real-world impact
At Pallister Park Primary School, we intend for Design and Technology to be creative, practical, and to inspire children to problem-solve and develop their own ideas. We aim to provide children with the opportunity to use their imaginations to design and create products within a variety of contexts, giving both meaning and motivation to their learning.
As part of our DT curriculum, children are taught a range of topics including food, textiles, mechanisms, structures and electrical systems. Through hands-on, practical experiences, we hope that children will leave Year 6 with knowledge and skills that inspire them to become chefs, engineers, sculptors, carpenters, designers, architects and more.
DT is a fundamental part of teaching and learning from EYFS to Year 6. Children in EYFS explore a range of materials, textiles and food items while developing their creativity, imagination and problem-solving — the foundation on which learning is developed throughout the school.
“High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.” -The National Curriculum
Music
Building confidence, creativity and a love of music
At Pallister Park Primary School we recognise that good quality music education contributes considerable musical and non-musical benefits to our pupils. Our music curriculum offers opportunities for pupils to develop attitudes and attributes that enhance life skills — listening, the ability to focus, creativity, perseverance, self-confidence and empathy. It enables pupils to appreciate both British Values and the contribution of other cultures.
Children from Reception to Year 6 receive three half-termly blocks of music tuition delivered by Apollo Arts. We also use Charanga Music in KS1 and Sing Up in KS2. This combination gives our children the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills while placing equal weight on the three aims of the National Curriculum: performing, composing and listening.
Pallister Park takes great pride in providing children with opportunities to perform for a wider audience through concerts, shows and other musical events. The intention is that pupils develop an interest in music and build up their love of music, self-confidence and sense of achievement.
Spanish
Becoming confident, life-long language learners
Pallister Park Primary School uses the Language Angels scheme to ensure we offer a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign languages curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils. All pupils will be expected to achieve their full potential — with the ultimate aim that they feel willing and able to continue studying languages beyond Key Stage 2.
The four key language learning skills — listening, speaking, reading and writing — are all taught across Key Stage 2, with age-appropriate grammar coverage throughout. This lays solid foundations for future language learning and also helps children improve overall attainment across other subject areas. Language learning begins in Year 3 and continues through to Year 6.
Learning a second language offers pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures, and build a better awareness of themselves and the wider world. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.
Physical Education
Physically literate, confident and active for life
At Pallister Park Primary School, we want to give our children the best possible chance to leave our school as physically literate. The five pillars — confidence, competence, motivation, knowledge and understanding — are vital to our children’s progression and their outlook on PE, physical activity and sport throughout life.
Our PE curriculum develops physical literacy and puts the whole child at the forefront. It allows pupils to learn about themselves, the importance of a healthy lifestyle, self-expression, and concepts such as fair play and respect. All pupils are entitled to high-quality PE provision — and there is significant evidence that this supports learning right across the curriculum, contributes to healthy and active lifestyles, improves emotional wellbeing and reduces poor behaviour.
We are constantly improving our programme of intra and inter-school competitions, which provides opportunities for pupils to participate in competitive sports and activities both in and beyond the curriculum. This means that pupils have the opportunity to participate at all four levels of competitive sport.
PSHE & RSE
Prepared for life — emotionally, socially and personally
Pallister Park uses the SCARF scheme to ensure we offer our pupils an exciting, broad and relevant PSHE and RSE curriculum that prepares pupils to encounter the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of both their present and adult life. We aim to give our pupils a safe environment in which they can explore and discuss their relationships, health and changes in the world around them.
Our long-term, progressive plan covers learning from Year 1 through to Year 6, with each year group covering six units throughout the academic year across three key themes: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. All DfE statutory RSE requirements are taught by the end of Year 6.
For more information, visit the SCARF website or download the parent information documents below.
Religious Education
Learning from and about religion to understand the world
At Pallister Park Primary School, we believe that it is vital for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them. We follow the agreed Middlesbrough Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, which we feel offers rich opportunities to promote an ethos of respect for others, challenge stereotypes and build an understanding of other cultures and beliefs.
Through Religious Education, pupils develop their knowledge of Christianity together with other principal religions represented within the local community and throughout Great Britain. We develop pupils’ understanding and awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures — and we encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences.
Parents have the right to withdraw their children from all or part of Religious Education and/or collective worship. Please contact the school office if you wish to do so.
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” — Albert Einstein