Creative Arts

Creative Arts

The Performing Arts team works with an ethos that every child deserves their ‘moment’ – every student will have a chance to shine in the productions and showcases, however big or small. We truly believe every child has the talent and scope to achieve extraordinary things. Collaboration through Music, Drama and Dance creates the perfect platform to combine these skills and our teachers have professional experience both as performers, as well as directing and choreographing. 

We use St Saviours Theatre to produce our main productions with past shows including Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, The Lion King, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Most recently our productions of Oliver and The Aristocats were filmed and can be viewed here.
Our children are taught to work in a professional way and engage with positive industry experiences including working with full scale bespoke sets, dedicated rehearsal time, costume and expert lighting design.

+Music

Knightsbridge School is passionate about its musical offering. The Music curriculum is designed to expose our students to a broad range of musical styles through singing, playing instruments, music technology, composing and listening and impart a love of music. The curriculum is engaging and inclusive and will equip students with the skills to study at GCSE level or pursue a Music Scholarship if they wish.

We have a busy extra-curricular music programme which includes choirs, an orchestra, music technology, musical awareness and a musical theatre group. The Show Choir upholds many external performances throughout the year including St Paul’s Knightsbridge Foundation Carol Service, whole school events, performances at the RHC and in and amongst the community.

Private tuition is offered on a broad range of instruments – brass, wind, strings, piano and keyboards, percussion, voice and drums.
Music lessons are exceptionally popular and are scheduled on a rotational basis throughout the school. Children are encouraged to demonstrate their musical progress by performing in termly recitals and are entered into termly ABRSM examinations when they are ready.

+Drama

The Drama curriculum is broad and varied and allows our children a space to grow in confidence on and off the stage. Our children love taking on the roles of characters, discovering scripts, devising their own monologues, getting into costume and sharing incredible stories to an audience.

There are a number of Drama clubs after school including the Invitation Only Drama Company for the exceptional actors in the school community. This group annually prepare innovative pieces for ‘Poetry Together’ and you can watch the most recent performances of ‘Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat’ by T.S. Elliot and ‘The Crown’ by Carol Anne Duffy featuring two special guests from the Royal Hospital Chelsea here

In the Spring term they perform a dramatic act which is a highlight in the school calendar and challenges our actors to pursue a range of acting skills.

LAMDA and Trinity Drama examinations are popular at KS. Selected children are prepared and entered for these exams throughout the year and are very successful.

+Dance

Dance has seen a meteoric rise at KS over the past two years, with the standard and enthusiasm for Dance reaching exceptional levels. In Dance at KS, we have an equal performance and technical focus. As part of the curriculum, we are developing the study of the IDTA syllabus and children will be entered for exams from across the school community. There is a popular extra-curricular dance programme with classes in Ballet, Tap, Street Dance, Musical Theatre Choreography and Gymnastics.

Each year group gets the opportunity to showcase the skills they fine-tune through the year when they take to the stage in their showcases and performances in assemblies. Performances range from pantomimes to plays, to showcases of material learned in class. We strive to instill a professional work ethic in the children, and this is demonstrated with some truly outstanding performances throughout the year.

+Art

Knightsbridge School encourages creativity and expression throughout the art curriculum and via numerous related initiatives. Our pupils have enjoyed many successes in competitions and exhibitions as well as enjoying inspirational visits to galleries and art events in and around London.

“Do something creative each day” is very much integrated into our teaching philosophy throughout the school.

Art at Knightsbridge School is taught by a specialist teacher from year 2 to year 8. It has its own well-equipped studio right at the top of the school, allowing for a spacious working area, which is full of light. This offers an environment that is both a creative and stimulating place to work. All the children enjoy a double lesson of Art per week.

The main objective of the art department is for the children to develop a love of creating. The children learn and enjoy all aspects of the process from the initial sketches to finished pieces. We aim to provide a safe environment, which encourages the children to express themselves in their own unique way regardless of attainment level.

Children are introduced to a diverse range of artists, movements and culture. They are exposed to a wide variety of materials, mediums and processes: drawing, painting, textiles, perspective, sculpture, ceramics, batik, printmaking, collage; in order to give every child the opportunity to discover their own potential. Projects are structured to allow children of varying abilities to be confident and achieve success. Recent projects have included responses to the work of Matisse, Monet, Rousseau, Oldenburg, Boccioni and Picasso. The pupils have also studied art from other cultures such as Aboriginal, Roman and Aztec. Large-scale projects and individual works are displayed proudly around the school and where appropriate entered into competitions and external exhibitions.