The Arts

Art and Design

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. At Belmont Junior School high-quality Art lessons are delivered to inspire all children to think innovatively and creatively and provide them with opportunities to develop their skills using a wide range of media and materials. Art is taught every other half term, alternating with Design Technology, for approximately two hours a week which allows children to have more dedicated time to focus on a specific Art unit. Teachers at Belmont Junior School use the Art Express scheme of work to plan and teach units of art.

Children learn, develop and extend skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore different creative ideas. A drawing unit is taught in each year group as it is a core skill that underpins all activity in art. The remaining units are covered once in Lower Key Stage 2 and once in Upper Key Stage 2 to ensure the breadth and balance of experience, skills and curriculum content. The units build upon prior learning to ensure that progression and continuity is built into the teaching and learning of art. There are three principles underlying each unit and session which are reflected in a consistent pattern of learning questions and assessment outcomes: the development of ideas and creativity; the development of skills and mastery of processes; and the development of knowledge encompassing art and cultures.

Children are introduced to a range of works and they develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. Works produced by artists listed in our progression framework are evaluated, used for inspiration and a tool for comparison for pupils throughout different units. This presents them with opportunities to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas, while experimenting with, creating and inventing their own works of art. The knowledge that they acquire can be applied in cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use the knowledge and vocabulary they have acquired through art lessons to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth.

Children are expected to be reflective and to evaluate their work. They are encouraged to think about how they can make changes to keep improving their work. This is meaningful and continuous throughout the creative process to help them develop their ability to think critically. They are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular project, in order to build their resilience and elasticity.

Music

In September 2025, Belmont Junior School was awarded a Music Mark of recognition for dedication and improvement in music education.

As part of this award, we pledged to:

• Advocate for the importance of music education in the curriculum and creative life of our school
• Provide an equitable, diverse and inclusive music education for every young person
• Welcome opportunities to broaden our musical horizons by working with providers in our community and beyond

At Belmont Junior School, our we:

• Provide a high quality, broad and balanced music curriculum.
• Make musicians out of every one of our pupils, offering opportunities for live performance. Engage, inspire and challenge children through their music education.
• Develop listening skills to review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, cultures, styles and traditions.
• Give a voice to our children so that they may sing with confidence using their voices to create different effects.
• Equip pupils with the skills to improvise and compose music, on their own and collaboratively. Give pupils the ability to make judgements and express personal preferences about the quality and style of music.   

Curriculum Implementation

Music at KS2 builds on learning in KS1 and is divided into the following areas: All pupils learn music with a specialist music teacher for an intensive week block in every year group, culminating in a community performance at the end of every term.

Instrumental Performance: 

• Pupils are taught to: play and perform using tuned string instruments (guitar and violin) in Year 4 (see WCIT Haringey learning scheme documentation for full coverage details).
• Pupils play melodies following notation, develop the skill of playing by ear and engage with others through ensemble playing. Year 4 whole school instrument teaching is provided by music teachers from Haringey Music Service. All pupils take part in termly concerts to perform to the community, including ‘continuing learner’ groups and solo artists from Y5&6. Pupils are taught to play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression

History of music: All pupils develop and build upon their understanding of the history of music throughout KS2, taking part in fortnightly class assemblies to focus on genre, use of musical vocabulary, listen with attention to detail, evaluating mood.
Enrichment opportunities are available for all pupils through peripatetic music lessons on piano, guitar, violin, drum and woodwind.  All pupils taking peripatetic lessons at the school take part in community performance concerts to share their learning. Belmont Junior School runs an after-school choir club that is open to all to join. Pupils regularly take part in events such as Haringey’s ‘mini massives’ at Alexandra Palace.
Assessment is carried out through a range of means: performances, recordings, pupil voice and self-assessment, written/pictorial response and participation in events.

Dance

 At Belmont we use the Get Set 4 PE dance curriculum which is a progressive scheme aligned with UK National Curriculum expectations for  KS2. In dance it emphasizes motor competence, creativity and performance, giving children the opportunity to express ideas, use counting and rhythm and evaluate their pees.  Students develop a more complex vocabulary of dance movements, using choreographic tools like canon, unison, formations, and levels. Each dance unit is typically divided into four themes, with three lessons of planning dedicated to each.