Fairfield High School for Girls

The Performing Arts Faculty at Fairfield High School is made up of the Dance, Drama, Music and Physical Education Departments.

Drama 

“We must all do theatre to find out who we are and discover who we could become” Augusto Boal

Our curriculum is designed to foster creativity, confidence and communication.

Our primary aims are to:

• Help pupils discover new skills and talents by teaching them how to effectively rehearse, create, perform and analyse Drama.
• Encourage a lifelong love of Drama and aim to develop an understanding of theatre history, theatrical conventions, forms and style.

We create a challenging and supportive atmosphere within the classroom where pupils feel comfortable to experiment with ideas, take risks and receive critical appraisal.

Personal Development and SMSC is carefully embedded within our curriculum. Pupils learn about performances from other times and cultures, explore feelings, moral and ethical issues and the surrounding world. They use their imaginations, be creative, reflect on their own and others work and work collectively applying their social skills.

Physical Education

PE offers all pupils the opportunity to practice a healthy active lifestyle. Pupils take different roles in PE lessons including a performer, an organiser, a leader, an official, a spectator, a choreographer and an assessor. PE is a subject where pupils are actively encouraged to constantly engage with each other throughout the lessons and it encourages and promotes a variety of social skills including team work, leadership and resilience.

Moreover, pupils are taught about the mental, physical and social benefits of sport and exercise, and are given the opportunity to learn about how to live a healthy active lifestyle, including diet and nutrition.

Dance

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.”  Martha Graham

Dance can be separated into three disciplines - performance, choreography and understanding and appreciation.  The three disciplines are taught and developed together with the aim to build personal skills that students can draw upon to succeed, not only in Dance but beyond the curriculum and in future employment. 

Our primary aims are to nurture our pupils’ talents whilst developing skills for life such as communication, creativity, leadership, confidence and commitment. 

Our curriculum encourages pupils to hone and develop their performance and choreography skills.  In addition to this, at KS4 we also explore the purpose of dance we create and the work of professional choreographers. Pupils not only replicate professional dance works but use them as inspiration when creating their own original performances.

Music

“With music, one’s whole future life is brightened. Music is nourishment, a comforting elixir. Music multiplies all that is beautiful and of value in life.”  Zoltan Kodaly

Our primary aims are to inspire a life-long love and appreciation of Music, to encourage creativity and self-expression, and to develop transferable skills such as leadership and self-discipline.

We create a positive learning environment where pupils frequently engage in practical music making both as a group, and in solo performance/ project work. We endeavour to build confident, resilient and strong young individuals, who will make skilled musicians and great leaders in their life after Fairfield.

Music lessons focus on the four main disciplines of instrumental and vocal performance, music technology, composition and music theory and appraisal. These disciplines are taught through a variety of topics, from Brazilian samba drumming to electronic dance music producing.