Nord Anglia Education (NAE) believes that the Performing Arts have a central and essential part to play in the entitlement for all our students. The Performing Arts contribute to the development of the skills, attitudes and attribute our students need for 21st-century life, employment and personal success in a way that is unique. For this reason, we believe that all three Performing Arts subjects are part of this entitlement.

In developing our Performing Arts curriculum around this core belief, we want to work with leaders in the
field and this is why we collaborate with The Juilliard School, whose world-leading education in dance, drama, and music enables the three disciplines to have a high profile in our schools, our students to have access to first-class pedagogy and experiences, and our teachers to be trained and personally developed to the highest level.

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
21stcentury education is increasingly characterized by design thinking, creative approaches to learning and the ‘maker generation’ where through experimentation, occasional failure, lateral thinking and the creation of something new, learners are enabled to stretch the boundaries of traditional learning. This is why we strongly believe in the ‘A’ in ‘STEAM’ – The Performing Arts demonstrate ‘making’ in a way that no other subjects can, as every experience in the classroom, the studio or the theatre engages students by using their own bodies, minds, and emotions to choreograph, script, compose, direct, conduct, design, create and innovate. Performing, interpreting and improvising help students to collaborate and also to act independently and make their own free choices. Experience in all three disciplines is essential for students to perform at the highest level because they each develop essential creative capacities; through sound (music), movement (dance), text (drama) and design, they express the joys and complexities of what it is to be human. Together dance, drama, and music make a whole––each one offering something unique and powerful yet all working together to complete the set of expressive and innovative capabilities in all our children.

SELF-CONFIDENCE & SELF-PRESENTATION SKILLS
One significant benefit of performing arts is the development of self-confidence. Students acquire presentation skills such as poise, focus and overcoming anxiety. To be effective communicators, students must learn how to present themselves in front of a range of audiences and connect with people intellectually and emotionally. Participation in all three arts is crucial to growing their self-confidence because each subject offers a unique way to engage the mind and body.
A MEDIUM FOR SELF-EXPRESSION
The Performing Arts allows for deep self-expression and emotional engagement. They help our students personalize their ideas and expand their imaginations. The Performing Arts also teach students about the
power of the individual—it’s not just the creative material that counts, but how it is performed and expressed. The three components, music, dance and drama, each engage a child’s brain, body, and emotions in different ways to promote this self-expression. Dance uses physicality to non-verbally communicate meaningful metaphors and complex concepts. Drama uses the instruments of voice and body to explore human perspectives, feelings, and relationships. Music integrates sound and time to engage our emotions in a very deep and personal way.

EMPATHY & COMPASSION
Performing arts help students to learn the crucial skill of understanding diverse points of view which helps them to learn empathy and compassion for others. Experiences such as embodying a character, portraying an emotion physically, and singing another person’s lyrics, illustrate how music, dance, and drama each accomplish this in a different way.

CULTURAL AWARENESS AND APPRECIATION
Our successful students will be truly global citizens. They need to understand and appreciate the world around them and the rich texture and history of the performing arts enable them to engage with world cultures in unique and powerful ways. Developing an aesthetic and empathetic appreciation of art forms across music, dance and drama are therefore essential to this growth.

PHYSICALITY, HEALTH, AND POSITIVE PHYSICAL AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Alongside physical education, the Performing Arts play a central role in the holistic development of our students. Body control and awareness, health and fitness, and positive lifestyle choices are all essential to the 21st-century global citizen. Music, Dance, and Drama play an important part in helping them to develop physical literacy.

HIGHER ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Several studies demonstrate that students exposed to music, dance and drama are more proficient in reading, writing, and mathematics. This is supported by studies in countries with the highest rankings in mathematics and science, such as Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands, which have Performing Arts education as a mandatory part of the school curriculum. Other studies also show that students exposed to performing arts are happier in school, more engaged and have better attendance – all of which contribute to their future success. Performing Arts play a unique role in schools because students do not need to look for the “right” answer but express a diversity of valid answers using different methods.
Like many other subjects, Performing Arts also develops co-operation and collaboration, resilience and perseverance, but it is the unique combination of the above components that make the Performing Arts an essential part of a 21st Century education.
What does this mean for all Nord Anglia Education students:
All Nord Anglia Education students experience all three aspects of the performing arts whilst they are in our schools. Music, Drama, and Dance form a compulsory part of our curriculum from the age of 4 right through to middle school. To make sure our curriculum offer is the very best it can be, and to make sure our teachers are the best in the world, we have teamed up with The Juilliard School to ensure that our teachers receive the highest quality professional development and have access to a wide range of tools and
resources to support their teaching. Juilliard extends and enhances the curriculum that we offer in every school by also providing access to world-leading artists for our students to engage with directly.