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Last updated on 10 November 2026

Expressive Arts

Expressive Arts

Overview

Expressive Arts is one of six Areas of Learning and Experience in the Curriculum for Wales. It covers art, dance, drama, film and digital media, and music. It has three statements of what matters. Each discipline has its own knowledge and skills. Hwb (the Welsh Government's digital learning platform, where the curriculum guidance lives) says they share the creative process.

The statements describe exploring, responding and reflecting, and creating. Hwb says they support each other and should not be taught in isolation. Learners meet the arts of Wales and the wider world as makers and audience. They build creative, artistic and performance skills. The guidance wants the arts to be accessible to every learner.

Schools decide how to organise teaching. Hwb accepts integrated, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or disciplinary approaches. Separate art and music lessons and cross-arts projects both work. The guidance asks for broad, balanced and equitable opportunities in all five disciplines from age 3 to 16. Read the Expressive Arts guidance on Hwb.

What does Expressive Arts look like in practice?

Art

Year 3 learners study Mary Lloyd Jones's landscape paintings, then make mixed-media pieces of the Ceredigion hills. Each learner chooses materials and explains why. This is Creating work, and the explaining feeds Responding and reflecting.

Dance

A Year 6 class choreographs a group dance about Cardiff, using canon and unison. Pairs watch each other's run-through, give feedback on spacing and timing, and make changes before the final performance. This is mainly Responding and reflecting.

Drama

Year 9 learners watch extracts from House of America and talk about when and where it was made. They then devise short scenes about identity and place in Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Valleys. This is Exploring work, rooted in Welsh drama.

Film and digital media

Year 11 learners make a five-minute documentary about a Swansea venue or festival. They edit towards industry standard and check consent forms and music licences before sharing. This is Creating at the top end, with legal and ethical judgement built in.

Music

Reception children in Welsh-medium settings across Gwynedd explore percussion and voice through traditional Welsh songs and rhymes. After each song they talk about how it makes them feel: happy, sleepy, ready to march. This is early Exploring work on ideas, feelings and moods.

Statements of what matters

The 3 statements below are the official wording from the Curriculum for Wales. Together they set out the big ideas learners should come to understand in Expressive Arts.

Exploring the expressive arts is essential to developing artistic skills and knowledge and it enables learners to become curious and creative individuals
Learners explore genres, techniques, tools and materials through their own work and other people's, including Welsh traditions and work from diverse cultures. Plan for them to see how the arts express identity and drive personal and societal change. Read it on Hwb
Responding and reflecting, both as artist and audience, is a fundamental part of learning in the expressive arts
Response ranges from a simple sensory reaction to a critical analysis using proper vocabulary. Plan regular chances to give and act on feedback, which builds resilience, and to respond to diverse artists from Wales and beyond. Read it on Hwb
Creating combines skills and knowledge, drawing on the senses, inspiration and imagination
Learners plan, draft, compose, choreograph and edit their own work, then perform, exhibit or share it with an audience in mind. Plan for the whole process, including the messy middle, and for learners' growing identity as artists in Wales. Read it on Hwb

Progression in Expressive Arts

Progression step 1

Around age 5, by the end of reception, learners explore materials, tools and techniques freely and ask how things are made: "I can ask questions to discover how creative work is made". They draw on their own feelings and memories, notice moods and ideas in other people's work, share what they make and listen to feedback. They use creative materials safely with adult guidance.

Progression step 2

Around age 8, in about Year 3, learners choose techniques and materials and can describe how an artist communicates a mood or idea. Feedback becomes two-way: "I can give and accept feedback as both artist and audience". They compare their work with work from other places and times, work with others, and make things for a particular audience and purpose. Resilience in creative challenges begins to show.

Progression step 3

Around age 11, about Year 6, learners work more independently and show technical control: "I can explore and experiment independently and demonstrate technical control". They use discipline-specific techniques and give and use constructive feedback to improve their work. They begin to explore how creative work expresses personal, social and cultural identities, and they present to different audiences in formal and informal settings.

Progression step 4

Around age 14, about Year 9, work shows more complex technical control, some originality and choices the learner can explain: "I can apply specialised technical skills in my creative work". Learners place work in its personal, social, cultural and historical context, including period conventions. They evaluate how well techniques produce meaning, and they think about audience, artistic intent and intellectual property when they create.

Progression step 5

Around age 16, about Year 11, learners take creative risks, research the purpose and meaning of a wide range of work on their own, and critically evaluate how artists use their skills. They use professional techniques: "I can use professionally established, discipline-specific techniques confidently and convincingly in my creative work and work towards industry standard". They think about marketing and audience, and they judge their work against ethical and legal considerations.

How does Expressive Arts relate to the four purposes?

Ambitious, capable learners

Hwb says the Area asks for personal application, perseverance and close attention to detail. These make learners ambitious and capable. You see it in the redraft, the extra rehearsal and the second edit. Visits to theatres and galleries, and visiting practitioners, give learners something to aim at beyond the school walls.

Enterprising, creative contributors

The creative process sits at the heart of all three statements, so this purpose runs through the whole Area. Hwb adds that managing time and resources to meet a deadline can enhance employability. A performance date, an exhibition opening or a film screening gives learners a real deadline and audience.

Ethical, informed citizens

Evaluation in the creative process lets learners explore complex issues, challenge perceptions and identify solutions, Hwb's introduction says. Responding to work from different times, cultures and places, including Wales, helps learners understand their own cultural identity and other people's. The Exploring statement points to the arts as a force for personal and societal change.

Healthy, confident individuals

Hwb says the expressive arts can engage learners physically, socially and emotionally, nurturing well-being, self-esteem and resilience. Creative movement and dance count as physical activity and develop gross and fine motor movements. Hwb also says the enjoyment and satisfaction of creative expression builds confidence, so sharing finished work matters.

Cross-cutting themes

Local, national and international contexts

Hwb asks for a focus on Welsh culture and traditions, and for creative work from learners' own locality, Wales and the wider world. Examples include Joseph Parry, Mary Lloyd Jones, Martin Parr and the film Tiger Bay. A project rooted in the school's cynefin (a sense of place and belonging), such as local songs or a nearby gallery, works well.

Careers and work-related experiences

Hwb says the Area aims to equip learners for careers in the creative and cultural industries, and to make them aware of the cultural and commercial impact of their work. It lists input from creative professionals and industry experience. A sound technician, set designer or local illustrator visiting a class shows learners the jobs behind the work.

Human rights education and diversity

Learners explore how identities, views and rights are portrayed in creative work, and they explore and celebrate work from diverse cultures and societies. Hwb says challenging stereotypes through exploring and producing creative work helps learners value diversity. Choose artists from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.

Relationships and sexuality education

RSE is mandatory from age 3 to 16 under the RSE Code made under the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021, and it cuts across every Area. Hwb's Expressive Arts guidance calls the arts a powerful medium for exploring RSE themes. The creative process can give learners a safe, inclusive space to explore feelings they may not share another way. Drama and role play suit this well.

Cross-curricular skills

Literacy

Hwb says engaging with creative work develops reading strategies and higher-order skills such as inference and deduction. Learners adapt their language for audience and purpose, and gain confidence to express themselves as individuals and in role. Script work, performance poetry, song lyrics and reviews of a performance all count.

Numeracy

Hwb lists size, shape, symmetry, scale, distance, position and time from geometry and measurement, and structure, pattern, rhythm, counting, repetition and phrasing from number. Ratios and fractions turn up in music. Songs and rhymes help embed numeracy at the early progression steps, so counting songs in reception do real work.

Digital competence

Hwb names digital collaboration, production technology, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, digital rights, licensing and ownership, body image and photo editing, and saving, sharing and distributing digital work. Film and digital media covers much of it. The skill is mandatory. The Digital Competence Framework is non-statutory supporting guidance.

Thinking tools for Expressive Arts

Practical classroom strategies that develop thinking skills across Expressive Arts. Each tool is ready to use in your next lesson.

Diamond Ranking

A prioritisation tool that gets learners discussing and defending what matters most, arranging ideas into a diamond shape that forces real choices.

Ranking & sorting

Hot Seating

A role-play activity where one learner takes on a character or expert role and the class asks them questions, developing both questioning skills and deeper understanding.

Discussion

Odd One Out

A quick classification tool where learners choose which item doesn't belong in a set and, crucially, explain why.

Ranking & sorting

PMI Diagram

A structured evaluation tool where learners consider the Plus, Minus and Interesting aspects of an idea, preventing snap judgements by requiring deliberate consideration of multiple perspectives.

Ranking & sorting

Think-Pair-Share

A three-stage discussion framework where learners first think individually, then discuss with a partner, then share with the wider group, ensuring all learners engage with the question before whole-class discussion.

Discussion

Two or Three Stars and a Wish

A feedback framework where learners identify two or three strengths (stars) in a piece of work and one area for improvement (a wish), creating balanced feedback that motivates and guides.

Assessment for learning

Common questions about Expressive Arts

Yes, you can. Hwb's guidance says a school may structure its curriculum through "an integrated, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or disciplinary approach". Each discipline has its own body of knowledge and skills. Discrete lessons in each discipline, cross-arts projects or a mix of the two all fit the guidance. Under the statements of what matters Code, made under the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021, your curriculum must include all three statements. The guidance asks for broad, balanced and equitable opportunities in all five disciplines across ages 3 to 16. It says the statements should not be taught in isolation. See the Expressive Arts designing guidance on Hwb.

Hwb's guidance links Expressive Arts to each of the other five Areas. Humanities uses art, music and theatre as evidence in enquiries. Work from other times and places, such as the Eisteddfod, builds cultural understanding. Languages, Literacy and Communication draws on performance poetry, drama, film, role play and song. Mathematics and Numeracy appears in counting, pattern, symmetry, scale and fractions in music. Health and Well-being treats creative movement and dance as physical activity. Science and Technology shares design thinking, materials and the science of waves in music. Plan these links on purpose. See the Expressive Arts designing guidance on Hwb.

Expressive Arts develops all four integral skills, plus literacy, numeracy and digital competence. Hwb's guidance calls the creative process "the essence of this Area". Learners take creative risks and accept failure as a learning experience. Evaluating their own and others' work builds critical thinking and problem-solving. Learners plan, set their own goals and manage resources. They develop self-confidence, independence and resilience. For cross-curricular skills, Hwb names inference and deduction, adapting language for audience and purpose, rhythm, pattern and scale, and digital skills from production technology to intellectual property. See the Expressive Arts designing guidance on Hwb.

The other Areas of Learning and Experience

Health and Well-being

Health and Well-being

5 statements of what matters

 Humanities

Humanities

5 statements of what matters

 Languages, Literacy and Communication

Languages, Literacy and Communication

4 statements of what matters

 Mathematics and Numeracy

Mathematics and Numeracy

4 statements of what matters

 Science and Technology

Science and Technology

6 statements of what matters