“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced”
– Vincent Van Gogh
Intent
Art and Design is an entitlement for our pupils and accessible to all.
We believe that art education is about mastering and developing explicit skills in fine art, ensuring that all pupils have the chance to succeed, regardless of their starting points. Visual arts focus on drawing, painting, sculpture and printing to equip our pupils with the knowledge and skills to experiment, create and invent their own works of art, craft and design. By developing a unique visual vocabulary, we believe our pupils can cross language barriers, enabling them to feel a sense of self-satisfaction, in communicating their own individual responses.
Art is an important form of cultural expression and therefore, we believe it has meaning for all of our children. Every culture, every period in the history of humanity has produced artistic responses to social situations and cultural events – Art and Design is an essential way for us to respond to the world. Art is not only a practical subject, but academic, as it engages with history; politics and society; cultural, social, economic and spiritual aspects of the past, present and future.
We explicitly teach children to use the language of Art and Design so that they can confidently discuss the images and artefacts they encounter. This enables our children to acquire the theoretical understanding they need to become critical audiences and informed consumers of Art and Design. Creativity is not confined to the arts: creativity and imaginative activity inform teaching and learning across our school. Art and Design not only impacts our curriculum, but has strong links with parents, other schools, local communities and authorities. By gaining a deep understanding of media and resources, we aim to inspire and challenge our pupils. We recognise that the creative economy is a powerful emerging economic sector: an arena that we want to enable our pupils to access. Our teaching invites children to become innovators and trend-setters, to be resourceful and pioneering citizens.
Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Art and Design, our curriculum is progressive throughout the whole school.
Key Concepts: Line, Shape, Composition, Tonal Value, Colour, Texture, Form, Pattern and Atmosphere
Domains of Knowledge: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture
EYFS: Expressive Art and Design is one of the seven areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and is used to develop pupils’ imagination, creativity and their ability to use media and materials. Opportunities are pupil-led and experiences are carefully planned for children to meet and exceed Early Learning Goals.
KS1 and KS2: Through a carefully sequenced Art and Design curriculum, children are given the opportunity to revisit knowledge and skills every year. Using the National Curriculum as a starting point, Art and Design is progressively planned to build knowledge and skills across a sequence of lessons. Each unit of work provides pupils with the opportunity to practice new learning and develop artwork. Every child has their own sketchbook which follows them throughout school, as part of a more authentic approach to being an artist, designer and maker.
Enrichment: The schools’ Art and Design curriculum is enriched through our sustained partnerships with local Arts and Cultural organisations such as Lowestoft Rising, Suffolk Art Link and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Alongside gallery visits and artist workshops, our children regularly participate and curate exhibitions of their own work. Pupils’ experiences are enhanced through our Forest School and after-school clubs.
Impact
The Art and Design curriculum builds towards four end points, describing what we want our pupils to achieve by the end of Year 6:
End Point 1: Fluency and confidence to experiment with media and the ability apply these in a variety of contexts, by understanding the materials and techniques they use.
End Point 2: An awareness of art history, key art movements and artists from different cultural and historical positions, including present day, and the social events that influence them.
End Point 3: Visually record and use observations and experiences to create and refine original artwork from varying starting points, which springs from their own ideas.
End Point 4: Confidently use subject-specific vocabulary to critique, review and discuss their own work and work of others in visual, written and oral forms.
Art and Design is assessed in two distinct ways:
- Metacognitive learning tasks which give pupils the opportunity to talk about artwork and give their opinion. Using subject-specific vocabulary, this can be recorded in pupils’ sketchbooks or shared verbally during group critiques.
- The ability to demonstrate specific core concepts within artwork, across media, and furthermore if pupils can do this with intent.
