At Redmile, we place the children at the centre of their learning, development and experiences, and our Performing Arts curriculum does exactly that!

We aspire to provide the children with countless opportunities to develop new and existing skills, deepen their passions and gain confidence and enjoyment in performance.

The Arts are a unique form of communication and can influence the way in which we feel, think and behave. They combine feelings and expression, thus enabling reflection and personal growth. We believe in the power this can have on guiding children to understand themselves and the world around them.

We offer every opportunity possible to our children to ensure they receive the education and school experience they deserve! We are very proud of our ‘Redmile’s Got Talent’ show each term, during which our children are able to show off their skills and talents (ranging from ballet to yo-yo tricks!). These performances really do show just how talented these young people are!

Music

We believe that the teaching of Music develops pupils’ listening and appraising skills, as well as their appreciation of music worldwide. Not only this, but the growth in confidence and personal skills demonstrated by our pupils just reinforce the love of music which flows through our school.

Our music lessons introduce and explore a range of different genres and composers of music, whilst providing opportunities to listen, compose and perform.

We embrace opportunities for our children to sing (both within school and around the community), such as assemblies, school musicals, concerts and church services. 

We have hymn practice every week to learn some more of our favourite hymns to sing in assembly, and we have weekly singing rehearsals with Mr Cope to practise for our big school musicals! We also have our own school choir who rehearse in our weekly Karaoke Club, and we cannot wait to show off the skills we have learnt! Many children learn to play musical instruments at school, such as violins or drums, and we love to share their experiences with them through various assemblies and performances. We’ve even had a crash-course in Drumba!

Over the years the Vale choral event is another fantastic opportunity for our children to shine and they really do; often audience members comment on the natural talents and enthusiasm of our children in particular. Our school, along with 9 other schools from the Vale of Belvoir, have a series of 3 singing lessons from our partners at Leicestershire Arts and they all come to together on the day of the concert to rehearse as a mass choir for the first time.  Their evening performance is well-attended and donations towards a nominated charity is well-supported, too. With over 200 voices it is a marvellous opportunity to be part of something special and it makes happy memories for all involved. Over the years, concert themes have included: songs from the shows, World War commemorative songs, Motown and Wind in the Willows; to name but a few.

In June 2022, our Year 4 children had the amazing opportunity to perform at the Nottingham's prestigious Albert Hall with over 350 other voices from schools in Rise. The event was organised by our Executive Headteacher, Mrs Hopkins and was a truly memorable occasion and one we will never forget. Please visit the link page below to read more about it.

Drama

Drama is an area in which many of our children develop a particular passion. As part of our varied and creative curriculum, we revel in the chance to use drama, both inside and outside lesson time. Drama enables children to reflect on emotions, behaviour and interactions, whilst simultaneously allowing them to immerse themselves in another reality.

We love to show off our drama skills to our families and friends! We hold two annual performances, in which every child in the school is able to act, dance and sing (and more!). Our recent performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat was a real highlight, and we could not be more proud of our children! We often use these events to raise money for charity; we were recently able to raise an amazing £205.17, which was donated to the children’s chosen charity “Help for Heroes”. Mr Cope also holds a weekly drama club for KS2 to teach the children valuable skills about acting and stagecraft.

"There is something so special about seeing the little ones dressed up in their costumes for the first time, and nothing makes me prouder than to see how far the older ones have come over the years: their confidence blossoming, still game for a laugh and still managing to look cute!" - Mrs Hopkins at our Christmas performance in 2017

"It was so lovely to see the children grow in confidence with their singing, and we were blown away by their performances – it was amazing!" - a parent at Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, 2018

"It was so ambitious for a primary school, but you totally pulled it off!" - a parent at Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, 2018

As well as our own school shows, we love to travel around and watch professional performances (although they’re never as good as ours!). Class 4 have been studying the novel ‘War Horse’ by Michael Morpurgo, and had the incredible chance to go and see the stage show in Nottingham! We took part in a workshop with the actors and directors, and some of us were even able to go up on to the stage! The Christmas pantomime is always one of the highlights of the year – oh yes it is!