Intent:
Art and Design has a high profile throughout Skyswood Primary and Nursery School, from early years’ education right up to the end of Year 6. It is our children’s entitlement to be able to share and express their individual creativity and imagination, experiencing a breadth of opportunities where they can experiment and develop increasing control and mastery of a wide range of skills, techniques and materials. Children will develop the knowledge and confidence needed to independently create their own unique drawings, paintings, designs, sculptures, and crafts. We want the children to have a natural sense of wonder and curiosity when studying a wide variety of artwork. Our growth mind set approach encourages children to ‘have a go’ and reflect critically and positively on their learning. We empower children to discover great artists that will enable them to explore their own and other’s cultural heritages. At Skyswood Primary school, we believe that the process takes precedence over the product. We have high expectations of all children as artists and encourage our children to see the enjoyment and satisfaction in the process of producing art. It is through the children’s personalised experience of art at Skyswood that we enable the children to feel safe, secure, and happy to experiment, developing their individual preferences and styles as they progress through the key stages.
Implementation:
We use the statutory early years’ framework (September 2021) and the teaching and the National Curriculum in KS1 and KS2 as our framework for planning and have built upon this to ensure ambition, enrichment and challenge as children progress through the key stages. Our skills-based curriculum makes effective use of cross-curricular links where appropriate. The progression of skills within disciplines such as drawing and painting builds progressively upon prior learning and underpins the children’s learning across the broader art curriculum. Painting experiences begin with experimenting with colour, mark making, and developing fine motor skills in the early years, right up to the control and application of specific techniques (such as watercolour and acrylic) by the end of Key Stage 2. Children learn to sculpt, model and create through a wide range of mediums. These include clay, pastels, crayons, chalks, charcoal, collage, montage, printing, papier-mache, modrock and junk materials. This is supported through the studying of key artists, including contemporary artists, designers and architects. Art units, along with Design Technology, are blocked in a way to enable a concentrated focus on each unit. In our early years the children have daily access to a variety of media and materials which they can explore to produce their own creative work. Provision is carefully planned to suit the interests of the children, whilst developing the necessary skills within the early years’ framework. We place high importance on EYFS, as we know this provides the fundamental base for future learning. We closely monitor the progress and attainment of all children against the National Curriculum expectations and, at the start of Key stage 2, Log books are formally introduced in Key Stage 2 as children develop their capacity to reflect upon artistic processes and begin to develop their personal artistic styles and preferences. Children have the opportunity to study a wide variety of artists as they progress through the school. Art units provide a rich cross-curricular link to other areas of study and our long term plans make appropriate links to support projects in history, geography and other curriculum areas. Our growth mind set approach encourages ‘have-a-go’ attitudes and children recognise that it is okay to take risks and make mistakes as part of their journey through our art curriculum.
Impact:
Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, 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.
By the end of each Key Stage, all children will be able to understand and apply a progressive range of skills, knowledge and processes they have been taught. They will be proficient in the drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft, and design techniques appropriate to their age. Teachers use assessment to support each child and enable them to build effectively upon previous learning. Children will recognise art as a broad subject where all children can succeed as artists and develop their own creative styles and preferences. Our art curriculum fully prepares our children for the expectations of secondary school and beyond. At Skyswood Primary School we lay the foundations for our children to develop a life-long love of art.