Art
Intent
At Eccleston St Mary’s Primary School, we believe that Art should be fully inclusive to every child. Our aims are to:
- fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Art and Design,
- provide a broad and balanced curriculum,
- ensure the progressive development of knowledge and skills
- enable children to observe and record from first-hand experience and from imagination
- develop the children’s competence in controlling materials and tools
- enable each child to acquire knowledge and become proficient in various art and design techniques and processes,
- help children to begin to develop an awareness of the visual and tactile elements including colour, pattern and texture, line and tone, shape, form and space,
- foster enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and develop a knowledge of significant artists, craftspeople and designers,
- increase critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art and design in different times and cultures
- analyse works using the language of art and design
- develop a cross-curricular approach to the use of art in all subjects.
Art and Design teaching at Eccleston St Mary’s Primary School instils in pupils an appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts. Art stimulates imagination and creativity; involving children in a range of visual, tactile and sensory experiences, which enable them to communicate what they see, think and feel through the use of the elements of colour, texture, form and pattern. Art promotes careful observation and an appreciation of the world around us. Children explore ideas and meanings through studying the work of artists and designers. Through learning about the roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact it has had on contemporary life and on different periods and cultures.
The aims of teaching art and design in our school are:
- To 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.
- To encourage pupils, as they progress through school, to begin to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art. They should also know how art reflects and shapes our history and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
- To enable pupils to produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
- To help pupils to become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles and other art, craft and design techniques
- To encourage pupils to evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
- To help children to learn about great artists, craft makers and designers, understanding the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Art, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Art is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At Eccleston St Mary’s, we believe in the importance of Art as we feel it is fundamental in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.
The Art curriculum at Eccleston St Mary’s Primary School 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. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our progression of knowledge and skills document. Teachers use this document to plan their Art and Design lessons and can adapt it to suit their class’s particular interests. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills and knowledge taught are progressive from year group to year group.
When teaching Art, teachers follow the children’s interests to ensure their learning is engaging, broad and balanced. A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement.
Children showing extensive aptitude in Art will be placed on our schools Gifted and Talented register. These children will be selected for appropriate enrichment opportunities throughout the year.
At Eccleston St Mary’s Primary School we provide a variety of opportunities for Art learning both inside and outside the classroom. We make particular use of our own grounds to stimulate children’s imaginations or to give them inspiration. These include the Forest Schools area, the playground or the outside classroom. We also take children out into the immediate vicinity of the school to undertake sketching activities. In addition, we regularly seek opportunities to inspire children further with educational visits to galleries and museums. Every year we have an ‘Arts Week’ during which subject leaders plan fun, engaging activities for the children, linked to the arts.
Impact
Within Art, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing hands on learning opportunities. This emphasis is to help children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school.
- We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discrete vocabulary also forms part of the units of work.
- All children are assessed according to Age-Related Expectations (ARE) which are defined in each separate year group’s Knowledge Organiser documents.
- We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
- Summative assessment against the ARE
- Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
- Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s sketch books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand each class’s work.
- Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.