Arts

Performing Arts

The Marymount Performing Arts department is a hub of creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.  

All students study Drama, Music and Dance from Grade 6 to 9, and in Grade 10, students may select two Arts subjects, including Visual Art. Theatre, Music and Dance are offered as IB Diploma subjects.

The study of the Arts is rigorous, challenging and a vital component of education, developing lifelong transferable skills, including organisation, resilience, time management, communication and emotional intelligence. It allows students to develop an understanding of themselves, the world around them and their place in it. Students learn to make independent decisions while also collaborating with their peers.

The Performing Arts department follows a holistic pedagogy and focuses on the needs of each student in order for them to achieve and flourish. The study of different cultures and perspectives is intrinsic to the curriculum, as well as inter-disciplinary links with other departments, STEAM festivals and other units of study.

There are many performing arts opportunities for students throughout the academic year, including:

• The annual school production, including backstage opportunities working in lighting, sound, technology, set, costume, make up and prop design. Recent productions have been The Little Mermaid (2024), Legally Blonde (2022), High School Musical (2021), Urinetown (2020), and Hairspray (2019).
• Choir (Chamber and Liturgical), Orchestra, musical ensembles, Rock Band and individual instrumental, and vocal music lessons led by specialist peripatetic teachers.
• The Dance Showcase
• LAMDA Speech and Drama, Music Trinity, LCM and ABRSM and Dance RAD and ISTD examinations with specialised peripatetic teachers.
• The Vocal and Musical Ensemble Performance Evening.
• The Summer Performing Arts Concert, showcasing achievements in each Grade.
• Attending live performances in the West End and at various avant-garde venues around London.
• The International Schools’ Theatre Association annual theatre festival with other international schools. Previous destinations have included Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Austria, Portugal, Norway and Turkey.
• The Marymount Middle School Performing Arts Festival.

Visual Arts

The scale, texture and even the smell of an artwork all combine to leave their mark on the viewer. These experiences can leave a lingering memory.

The variety and personality of the artworks and designs created in our Art and Design Studios are memorable in their scale and breadth, the vivacity of the textures, and detail and breadth of imagination.

We have a vast array of resources at our disposal including a kiln and potter’s wheels, Adobe’s full Creative Suite of software and MacBooks, a printing press, a laser cutter, 3D printers, and electronics. Whilst working with a wide variety of materials and resources is exciting, we also acknowledge that working with restricted materials can elicit wonderfully fruitful investigations of how limitations can lead to liberations.

Students can expect to investigate cultural masks, how we define ‘home’, conceptual video works, and the creation of a full size horse. As part of a lively STEAM curriculum, the Art and Design departments work alongside each other, as well as Science and Mathematics, to encapsulate all that creativity has to offer its students and the world of possibilities.