Art & Design

Intent: Why we teach Art and Design at St Mary's

Art is generally the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in visual form such as painting or sculpting, producing work to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. A high quality Art and Design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft or design. As children progress through school, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how Art and Design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. 

All pupils will experience the power and enjoyment of being creative, using and refining skills whilst working with a range of techniques. They will have a record of learning in art that is passed through school to show progression and their work will be displayed and celebrated.  

At St Mary’s we value art and design as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. We believe that all children can achieve in Art and Design; that high quality art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop creative procedural understanding. Our Art curriculum provides our children with opportunities to develop their skills, using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills and then have the opportunity to evaluate different creative ideas. The children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles as well as 3D work such as sculpting. The skills they acquire are applied to their cross curricular topics allowing children to use their own individual ideas and interests. Children are also introduced to a range of styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. It is paramount that art work be purposeful; be this as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other artists that inspire them. In art children are expected to reflect and evaluate their work, thinking critically and how they can make changes and develop their mastery and design techniques. Our aim for the Art & Design curriculum is to ensure that all children are inspired to create their own works of art, craft and design an become fascinated with Art & Design within the world. Our children will be equipped with the vocabulary that they need to become artists and ask questions about our world.  

Key Art and Design Skills are: 

·       Use a range of materials creatively to design and make products

·       Use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. 

·       Develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space.

·       Learn about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, making links to their own work and to understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms. 

·       Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.  

·       Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language and vocabulary of art, craft and design.  

Implementation: How we teach Art

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design curriculum at St Mary’s, is based on the Nation Curriculum and linked to topics to ensure a well-structured approach to this creative subject. 

Foundation Stage

At St Mary’s Primary School within the Foundation Stage, we run continuous provision, where children have free access to all resources and opportunities, allowing them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding at their own pace and interest. We relate the creative development of the children to the points set out in the Foundation Stage curriculum. We also use child’s interests to plan and develop cross curricular learning to create opportunities for children to become creative and develop their skills.

The pupil’s learning includes: art, design, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play which are assessed against the early years framework in particular the area of Expressive Arts and Design. The range of experiences, encourages children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so this extends their understanding. Children explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.

- Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques,

experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function;

- Share their creations, explaining the process they have used;

- Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2

·       To ensure that high quality Art & Design is taking place throughout the whole school we implement a curriculum which is progressive throughout the school

·       Art & Design lessons are planned through termly topics with a focus on knowledge, understanding and skills as well as developing art related key vocabulary.

·        Wherever possible first hand experiences and real things are used to stimulate art and design activities. Teaching is done in whole class groups followed by group and individual work. New techniques and skills are modelled and examples of work are shown to the children.?Children will use resources to support their learning, for example: visits to local galleries

·       Art & Design lessons give the opportunity to explore and respond to artistic ideas, use a range of materials, evaluate their work and the work of others and, to develop control and expertise of skills and techniques. This may, in some cases, maybe through the children’s sketch books rather than direct teaching.

·       In group and individual work, pupils have the opportunity to investigate, explore and develop ideas and techniques. They are also involved in evaluating their work, celebrating success and identifying areas for improvement.?

·       Cross curricular opportunities for further learning and development in the arts are built into the planning of all subjects as a means of enhancing the children’s learning opportunities. These may be in the form of visiting performing arts groups, museums, galleries or?other venues.  

How does St. Mary’s curriculum meet the needs of the children at our school?

Religious Values

The teachings of Jesus are central to every aspect of our learning, so we:
Must nurture their physical, spiritual and mental wellbeing by recognising and developing their God-given talents to their full potential.   
 
Key life skills for learning 

Provide a curriculum  that will equip children with the values, skills and attributes needed to be independent thinkers and courageous learners, so we:
Provide children with opportunities to rehearse, apply and master our core learning behaviours of being able to focus, co-operate, reflect, work independently, be inventive, show resilience, self-belief and curiosity.
Understand skills and concepts acquired through art are not exclusive to art, but closely linked to those required in other areas of the curriculum.
Allow children to further develop a growth mind-set and understand improvement is something that can be acquired through hard work & effort and practise. 
Pupil Premium Grant:

Provide extended opportunities to experience a wide range of sports and physical activities which they might not otherwise have chance to access, so we
Provide opportunities for pupils to get involved in extracurricular activities such as art clubs after school, during playtimes or lunchtimes
Have expectations that all children will develop at a level that is appropriate to them.
Challenge and differentiate skills where necessary
Opportunities to embrace cultural capital is part of our school ethos, so we:Children to be inspired by famous or local artists
Use school grounds to provide opportunities for art work to be displayed and for children to complete art work in other areas of school other than in their classrooms

Embrace the great outdoors through our Forest School site
Celebrate, embrace and display art work produced by all children
Learn about different  artists and their styles and techniques used to complete art work 
Provide opportunities for children to express themselves via art work

Impact : What Art gives to our children (attainment and progress)

Each pupil will:

·       Experience?a broad, balanced arts curriculum, with an emphasis on the development of understanding and skills in art and design

·       Experience?the arts through other areas of the curriculum

·       Be?given a wide range of opportunities to express themselves creatively? 

·       Be?given the opportunity to develop skills and interests

·       Begin?to develop awareness of the emotional impact the arts have on themselves and on an audience 

·       Be given the opportunity to reflect, evaluate and develop their own work 

We measure the impact of Art and Design at St Mary’s by: 

· Monitoring pupil progress. Teacher assessment - We use an assessment/tracking grid –emerging / expected /exceeding these are completed by class teachers after each skill is covered

Self assessment – children identify whether they think they have achieved the learning objective covered by evaluating their own work saying what they like about their work and ways they can improve in the future.

· Identifying any underperforming groups / individuals and adapting teaching to address this – if necessary use a higher or lower assessment milestone from the upper or lower year group. 

· Collecting pupil voice of their learning in Art and Design. 

·       Sketch books - each pupil has a sketch book which they take on their art journey through school. They use this to practise their art skills before completing their final piece. The sketch book shows their progression from year 1 to year 6.      

·       Year group learning floor books – This large book, shows fantastic evidence of children’s work and the skills covered. This will be a mixture of samples of work as well as photographs of children in art lessons. 

·       Teachers, with the help of the pupil, choose 3 pieces of work (final pieces) to show different skills developed, that the children are proud of. These pieces are 1 from each term. This helps to evidence assessment and show progression throughout school.  

·       Teacher to ensure coverage  of skills taught by completing a what is taught when document 

Future Plans: What Comes Next? 

·       Invite an artist into school to work with children on a project, also to work with staff during a staff meeting to develop staff subject knowledge.

·       Show case and display children’s work – focus art days/week – topic based (topic TBC). Invite parents in to school to see children’s work. Each classroom to have an art display. 

·       To provide an art club for children, initially for KS1. 

·       To develop the art related key vocabulary throughout school

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