Intent
At Cathcart Street Primary School, we believe that high-quality Art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop creative procedural understanding. Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas.
Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. The skills they acquire can be applied to cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, by sketching historical artefacts in detail, researching geographical locations to support their work on landscape painting or using art as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development.
Many areas of art link with mathematical ideas of shape and space; for example, when printing repeating patterns and designs and thinking about 3D shapes to support structures. 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 our own work. Pupils should be clear what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this.
In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process, with evidence of age-related verbal and written refection. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular project.
Implementation
Teachers set out a long term overview for their year, incorporating the skills needed to engage children in art and design. Through a variety of creative and practical activities children will develop the knowledge, understanding, skills and key vocabulary required by the end of each key stage.
EYFS Children explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities. They have the opportunity to explore textures, movement, the feel and look of different media and materials. They develop their understanding of a range of media, manipulate them to create different effects expressing their own ideas. They develop skills to use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately adapting their work where necessary.
KS1 lessons include progressive skills using a range of media and materials creatively to design and make products in the disciplines of drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, printing and textiles. Children learn to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. The art curriculum encourages children to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space while learning about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.
KS2 children are taught to further develop their skills, techniques and key vocabulary introduced during KS1, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design. At Cathcart Street children are taught to record their observations in their art and design books and use them to review and revisit ideas. The skills taught in the previous key stage are built upon and children’s mastery of art and design techniques includes drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, printing and textiles with a range of materials e.g. pencil, charcoal, paint and clay while learning about great artists, architects and designers in history.
Robust assessment at the end of each unit of work shapes future learning to ensure key skills, knowledge, understanding and vocabulary are built upon year on year as set out in the National Curriculum to support progression throughout the key stages, thus supporting children’s transition into secondary education and the wider world beyond.
Impact
The Art curriculum is high quality, well thought out and planned to demonstrate progression of skills in several disciplines, ensuring we equip children for their next key stage and beyond. The impact can be measured through standards achieved against planned outcomes. The school reflects a celebration of learning in 2D and 3D form which promotes discussion amongst children about their learning, thoughts, ideas, processes and evaluations, leaving children with a sense of pride in their own work, that of their peers and the school community as a whole.