Our Art Curriculum 

Intent:

We believe that art teaches us how to invent and create alongside to ability to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of the wider world. Children should also know how art reflects and shapes our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

We aim to:

• Seek to equip our children with key artistic skills and knowledge that will prepare them for the next stage in their learning and provide them with the necessary foundations to be successful in adult life.
• Build an art curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills so that all pupils know more and remember more.
• Enable every pupil to view themselves as an artist.
• Use high-quality questioning to develop critical thinkers.
• Deliver all the requirements of the national curriculum in relation to art.
• Ensure all art lessons include opportunities to develop a skill-based vocabulary.
• Make pupils aware of and apply the artistic transferable skills required when linked to other subjects, as well as other aspects of their life.
• Help children to understand and appreciate art in its many forms
• Assist pupils in becoming visually literate.
• Develop powers of observation.
• Develop aesthetic sensibilities to make judgements about Art.
• Encourage the use of imagination and original thought.
• Develop the ability to communicate ideas, opinions and feelings about their own work and that of others.
• Encourage children to be able to respond knowledgeably to the work of other craftspeople, knowing that there are different kinds of art made for different purposes.

Implementation:

As part of the planning process, teachers plan the following:

• We implement our approach through high-quality teaching; delivering appropriately challenging work for all individuals.
• Every class from to Year 1 to 6 follows the Kapow scheme of learning which is based on the National Curriculum. Lessons are personalised to address the individual needs and requirements for a class but coverage is maintained.
• EYFS children are taught the essential artistic skills needed in line with the Development Matters document.
• Lessons provide children with hands on opportunities to explore, create, experiment and imagine.
• Children from EYFS through to Year 6 are taught key vocabulary which has a clear progression through the years but also challenges and allows room for extending and developing knowledge where appropriate.

Impact:

• Children will make at least good progress in art from their last point of statutory assessment and from their starting point in Reception.
• Children will use their artistic knowledge and skills, in all curriculum areas, to enable them to know more, remember more and understand more.
• Children will retain knowledge that is pertinent to applying art with a real life context.
• All children view themselves as artists and use and apply these skills across the curriculum.
• Achievements are celebrated in classrooms, around the school an in the wider community through galleries and corridor displays.