The Arts Education Curriculum states that the Arts education enables the child to explore alternative ways of communicating with others. It encourages ideas that are personal and inventive and makes a vital contribution to the development of a range of intelligences

The aims of arts education are:

 • To enable the child to explore, clarify and express ideas, feelings and experiences through a range of arts activities 

• To provide for aesthetic experiences and to develop aesthetic awareness in the visual arts, in music, in drama, in dance and in literature 

• To develop the child’s awareness of, sensitivity to and enjoyment of visual, aural, tactile and spatial environments 

• To enable the child to develop natural abilities and potential to acquire techniques, and to practise the skills necessary for creative expression and for joyful participation in different art forms 

• To enable the child to see and to solve problems creatively through imaginative thinking and so encourage individuality and enterprise

 • To value the child’s confidence and self-esteem through valuing self expression

 • To foster a sense of excellence in and appreciation of the arts in local, regional, national and global contexts, both past and present

 • To foster a critical appreciation of the arts for personal fulfilment and enjoyment