Art and Design Curriculum 

Intent 

At Crook Primary School, art and design is valued as a subject which gives pupils the ability to appreciate and interpret that which they observe, to communicate what they think and feel, and to make what they can imagine and invent. Art and design teaching aims to instil an appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts, and pupils of all abilities are involved in learning the necessary skills needed to make progression in their knowledge and understanding as well as to develop their individual competence in controlling materials and tools. Our curriculum aims to strike a careful balance between exploration and demonstration of key art skills. It aims to encourage pupils to explore their own individual creative expression as well as to increase critical awareness of art, history of art and the role and purpose of art and design in the wider world, including appreciation for artists, architects and designers both locally and internationally. 

We aim to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for art and design whilst also providing a broad and balanced curriculum which inspires and motivates all pupils and ensures the progressive development of knowledge and skills. The focus in art and design lessons and related enrichment activities is on developing pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding specific to the subject, as well as increasing pupils’ confidence and creativity through a wide repertoire of teaching approaches. Our curriculum aims to help pupils to not only grow in confidence and understanding, but also aims to promote learning through a carefully planned balance between exploration and demonstration. Teaching staff use assessment methods and subsequent planning to ensure that learning is engaging, broad and balanced. Through our ‘connected curriculum’ approach, we encourage pupils to make connections between their learning across subjects, building upon key critical thinking approaches of comparison, appraisal and analysis, whilst also exposing pupils to a substantial breadth of artists, art and design skills and knowledge of art and design within history and its impact on the world.  This approach encourages pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through linking with subjects which embrace their personal interests and experiences.

Teaching of art and design at Crook Primary is structured so that pupils have sufficient time to be able to gain a deep and thorough understanding of how they can build upon and implement their learning from lesson to lesson, term to term and year on year.

Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning at Crook Primary, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Art and design is planned to create strong links with related subjects and to inspire pupils based on their interests; therefore, art and design is taught as an integrated 2 week block within an overarching termly project. This provides pupils with contextual insight and the ability to place the subject of art and design into a wider historical and geographical real-world perspective. 

Our curriculum is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills taught in each Key Stage. Teaching staff plan for lessons using the whole school art and design overview alongside our progression of knowledge and skills document, ensuring inclusivity and development of pupils of all abilities. 

Throughout their time in school, pupils are exposed to a wide breadth of art styles, periods of art and key artists through a carefully crafted curriculum. Each stage of pupils’ development in art and design throughout their time at Crook Primary School incorporates the study of both modern and more traditional artists and art styles; as such, pupils are able to both gain a wide knowledge of the history of art and the timeline of traditional artists as well as be inspired by modern artists that may be more relevant to their own individual interests. 

The structure of the teaching of art and design within the overall curriculum allows for pupils to have sufficient time to be able to deeply develop art and design skills, closely following real approaches taken by artists, craft makers and designers. Pupils develop both the principles of art as well as the methods, techniques and processes using a wide variety of materials and media. Through our blocked approach to  teaching art and design pupils are given the time and opportunity to develop their skills in a thorough way, through the themes of line, shape, space, colour, texture and form. Art and design is taught across the school at the same time which allows pupils to subsequently share their learning with the entire school in the culmination of a termly school art gallery. Each unit will have “sticky knowledge “ which will be shared with pupils in their books so that they can use them as a point of reference.  Books will be subject specific and will continue with children each year. The learning of vocabulary should be supported through reading as an “Artist” within each unit of work. High quality, up-to-date texts should be used to inspire and provide information around each unit. 

 At Crook Primary School, we provide a variety of opportunities for art and design learning inside and outside the classroom, to make sure that the exciting and ever-changing world of art, craft and design is reflected in and beyond the classroom. 

The aims of teaching art and design in our school are as follows:

•   To engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works.
•   To guide pupils to think critically about creative works and to develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design; this includes knowledge of how art and design reflects and shapes our national and global history, and how art and design contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
•   To empower pupils to produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences through use of sketchbooks.
•   To allow pupils to explore processes by manipulating materials, their developing understanding of which can then be applied to further concepts.
•   To teach pupils to become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art and design techniques, using approaches employed by artists, craft makers and designers to improve their skills.
•   To direct pupils to appraise and evaluate creative works using the language of art and design.
•   To ensure that pupils know about great artists and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
•   To provide further enrichment activities related to art and design, such as making connections with local artists, and providing interactions with art in the wider community through school visits, both in person and virtually where necessary.

Impact

Within art and design, Crook Primary aims to stimulate the imagination and creativity of pupils as well as to promote their careful observation and appreciation of the world around us. Our art and design curriculum is of high quality, encouraging pupil individuality and personal expression. Progression of skills and understanding is clearly planned for. Discrete teaching of specific art and design terminology is planned using the progression of skills map and incorporated into units of work to ensure that all pupils are able to articulate well-developed responses to creative works.

The impact of our art and design curriculum is measured through the following methods:

• Ongoing formative assessment in which pupils are guided to meaningfully reflect about their own and others’ development of ideas, their skills and deepen their understanding.
• Summative assessment of pupil evaluations and skills, focusing on identifying how pupils can further develop their ideas, refine their skills and deepen their understanding. Specifically:
• The use made of pencil in successive drawings
• How pupils have increased their appreciation of the ways of mark making 
• The awareness of the different ways paint may be applied to provide greater variety and extend expressiveness by the use of brighter colour, blending, combination of colours and balance 
• The response to new materials/media which may help to increase the richness of the pupils image making 
• The reflection on their final piece and discussion ways of improving
• Passing opinions critically upon their own and others work 
• Discussions with pupils about their learning and enjoyment of their lessons (pupil voice).
• Whole school pupil appraisal and celebration of their own and other’s work through ‘Art Gallery’ days.
• Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s sketchbooks are scrutinised in order to encourage meaningful and reflective dialogue between teaching staff, ensuring progression of skills, themes and knowledge.
• Assessment of pupils’ progression of skills throughout a unit of work which teaching staff use to inform further planning and delivery of art and design

At the end of each year, children will be assessed against age related expectations associated with the learner behaviours of an expected pupil within art and design.

Additional Information