Art

Intent

We aim to provide an art curriculum that is purposeful and engages, inspires and challenges our children. The art curriculum has a focus on knowledge and progression of skills with topics being revisited throughout the key stages. Art for most children is a natural form of expression and a source of great pleasure. We aim to increase confidence and competence in the use of different media, such as pencil, charcoal, paint, collage, printing, inks, textiles and clay. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect. We promote the necessary skills for our children to develop their natural ability to be expressive and creative, and we aim to instil pride by achieving finished work that is of a high standard. In addition, we expose children to the work of famous artists from across the ages and to a variety of artwork which allows them to develop their understanding of what ‘art’ is.

Implementation

Each unit comes with an overview, quizzes throughout and an end of unit evaluation. The short term plans provide teachers with the knowledge, skills, techniques and previous learning in order to give them confidence in teaching the units successfully. Drawing and painting (colour theory/mixing) are taught in every year group and sculpture, collage and printing are taught in alternate years. This ensures progression with skills being built upon and knowledge developed. The lessons planned develop the children’s techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design. Children are also taught about famous artists and how styles of art have changed through history.  We explore artists and cultures that reflect the world in which we live.

At the start of every topic, children will use a knowledge organiser which allows them to build a picture of what’s to come and; throughout the unit, refer back to for definitions and visual prompts. Teachers will continuously check children’s understanding by activating previous knowledge at the start of each lesson.

Impact

Art and design is loved by teachers and pupils across the school. Teachers have high expectations and engagement is evident in lessons. Children use technical vocabulary accurately and pupils understand how their lessons build on previous learning. Children apply the techniques and processes they are taught to their own artwork and develop their own style of art. Children are confident in evaluating their work and giving their opinion on their own and other works of art. Children apply our school values of excellence and resilience by continually evaluating and improving their work. All children in school can speak confidently about their art and design work and their skills.

Art and design plans are created by the subject leaders of the five schools of Spring Trust and audited by the Trust Subject Leader. Every planned art unit includes continuous assessment where each lesson begins with questions about the previous week’s learning and ends with quizzes to reflect on new learning.

In order to measure the impact of teaching, the subject lead will conduct regular monitoring through pupil interviews, learning walks and book looks. Moderation meetings will in turn take place half termly with subject leads from other Spring Trust schools to scrutinise lesson plans and discuss monitoring and feedback outcomes in order to develop the subject further.